Shi no Koe
by Oversoul
Summary: What starts out as a journey to obtain personal revenge quickly turns into much more as the peaceful shell around Konoha begins to crack. Almost AUish, based loosely on the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
1. PROLOGUE: ONE HUNDRED YEARS

(( Jeez, I need to stop changing my mind about all these fanfictions. I'LL ACTUALLY FINISH THIS ONE, I SWEAR! Even if I do, it will still take me until the end of high school. Oh, by the way, my friend is starting a Naruto fanfiction, so go make her happy and read it. It goes by the title "Sasuke in Wonderland". Should be self-explanatory. Actually, Sa-SOOK is the main character in mine too. Hell, the whole SERIES should just be renamed "Sasuke". It would make much more sense. (Even though we haven't seen him at all since the time-skip yet.) I'm trying my hand at tragedy in this one a bit, although it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to those of you who know the story behind this one.

Ah, whoops. Explanation time. Although I'm going to deviate from the canon quite a bit, this is loosely based off of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Known for its many character deaths. (A warning, about ten main characters are gonna cark it.) I need to perfect my action-y skills too, so this whole thing is sort of like a test to me. Mostly my patience is going to be tested. For those of you who don't know, this series is FREAKING LONG. Three movies. The first one is about two and a half hours, the next one is around three, and the third is approximately three and a half. HOWEVER, I'm a proud owner of all three extended play versions, which spells about two hours of extra scenes for me to convert. Thank God I'm not basing all of this off the books. (They take FOREVER to read.)

My whining is probably getting rather bothersome, so I'll spare you any other rants I could possibly produce. Yosh, hajimasho!))

PROLOGUE: ONE HUNDRED YEARS

"A ninja must not show any emotion in any situation. A ninja must put the mission first, and must have a heart that will not allow him to cry." The 25th rule of shinobi conduct. Out of the hundred, this one is the most well known to date. Only those who have mastered this concept are considered elites. But of all the things humans are capable of, simply not feeling isn't one of them.

Before Konoha, the Fire Country was torn apart by many wars. Shinobi battled over food, land, money, power; even the most prestigious clans fought among themselves. This was known as the Era of Wars. Men died, women died, children died. The country was slowly killing itself. Yet only one man saw this, and single-handedly put a stop to the bloodshed. This man was given the title of the most powerful ninja of the Fire Country, Hokage, and his face was carved from the face of a mountain in the centre of the country.

The first Hokage immediately settled all disputes, and evenly distributed the land between the noble families. Their estates formed a complete circle, and in the middle a village was founded.Houses were built, families moved in, economy was established. This was the village hidden in leaves, Konohagakure no Sato.

The land of the Fire Country at that time was rocky and barren, almost completely devoid of any life from before the wars. The Hokage was concerned that nothing would grow there anymore unless something was done, so he developed a technique: Mokuton Hijutsu, Jukai Koutan. With this one technique, he grew thousands upon thousands of trees around the circle of inhabitants. During seven days and seven nights, the trees continued to grow. And on the morning of the eighth day, the entire Fire Country was an enormous forest.

The Hokage had noticed that the renegade shinobi had lost their purpose after the wars had ended, and that they would soon become restless and begin causing trouble if left unemployed. So he created a system: new shinobi without rank would enroll in an academy and be taught, while those who had already proved their worth would either teach the others or complete missions requested by the villagers and be paid accordingly. The Hokage had heard of similar systems from other countries, and sure enough, everything went quite smoothly.

As the Hokage aged, Konoha became more and more peaceful. He made alliances with the other hidden shinobi villages, and maintained order within his own. Nearly ten years had passed since he had been named Hokage, and nothing of great importance had happened since the Fire Country's shinobi had been given employment. But not long after those ten years had gone by, another ninja challenged the Hokage. Since it was about time for him to pick someone to take his place, he accepted. The battle waged on for twenty-four hours, and in the end, the younger challenger won. The Hokage acknowledged him as the stronger shinobi, and gave up his title.

About a year or so after the second Hokage had been named, a rumor spread around Konoha about a boy named Sarutobi, who supposedly had enormous potential as a ninja. Curious, the former Hokage and the second both decided to investigate further. When they found the boy, they both saw what a great shinobi he could become, and decided to train him as best as they could. Sarutobi, who was only about seven at the time, stayed on a strict training regimen under the two for five years until there was almost nothing left for them to teach. Eventually, they came to the conclusion that he would continue to become more powerful and eventually surpass them both, so before he was even a teenager, Sarutobi became the third Hokage.

When he was middle-aged and the previous two Hokage had died, Sarutobi decided to teach three select ninja. These three's names were Jiraiya, Tsunande and Orochimaru, and they were each especially talented in their own way. They reminded Sarutobi of himself, so he was extremely prude with their training exercises, and eventually they grew to be skilled shinobi. Jiraiya developed an untraceable cloaking technique and learned the art of summoning. Tsunande learned to summon as well and became a healing expert, and Orochimaru showed potential to become the next Hokage. However, when one of Jiraiya's pupils became the fourth after many years, Orochimaru conspired against Konoha, and eventually abandoned the Hidden Leaf with a grudge. Not long after, Tsunande disappeared and became a loose canon, gambling to earn a living.

Although Sarutobi had resigned his title as Hokage, he was forced to take it back not long after. A nine-tailed demon fox had attacked the village, and Konoha would have ceased to exist if it weren't for the fourth. Without hesitation, he forfeited his own life in exchange for the demon's, and sealed it inside his newborn son before dying. Not long after this incident, Jiraiya disappeared as well, leaving the third Hokage, now an old man, to govern Konoha by himself.

Things were peaceful for twelve years, until Orochimaru returned, having finally mastered his forbidden technique. He and the third were locked in combat for hours while Konoha fell under attack by the Hidden Sand, a village supposedly allied to Konoha, and the Hidden Sound, a small bordering village Orochimaru had founded in has absence. Left no other choice, Sarutobi used the fourth's technique to try and sacrifice his own life to kill Orochimaru. But in the end, he didn't have the strength, and could only seal away all of his pupil's techniques before dying.

Jiraiya, having returned during the mayhem to help defend Konoha, was asked almost immediately to take his teacher's place. But he refused, and insisted that there was only one other person fit for the job; Tsunande. Jiraiya and the fourth's son, now twelve, set out to find her and bring her back. Eventually, Tsunande was located, but refused as well. After an encounter with the disabled Orochimaru, however, she had a change of heart, and returned to Konoha to become the fifth Hokage.

Ten years since her return, Tsunande still continues to govern the Hidden Leaf successfully. The fourth Hokage's son, Uzumaki Naruto, still hoping to become the sixth, and his companions all hold key parts in the story about to unfold. A story which begins on September 21st, one hundred years since the founding of Konoha…

(( My GOD, you have no idea how boring that was to write. It's only about two pages on Microsoft Word, too! Argh! If I had trouble writing THIS, I can only imagine how hard it's going to be to write the rest of the story. Hopefully, the coming chapters will be at least a little longer than this. Speaking of which, there are going to be like a hundred chapters. Yikes. I'm considering splitting the story the way the movies were made, but… Hmmmm… I dunno. I guess I'll find out when I get there.

By the way, you were by no means obliged to have read that. Unless you like those little historical foreword thingies. If not, suck for you. ))


	2. CHAPTER 1: FIREWORKS

(( Wow. I've put this off a long time (nearly two months). Well, there's not really much for me to say, except that the plot is semi-introduced (finally), and I hope you like it more than my crappy prologue. Oh, and I'm introducing a few canon pairings. There, I said all I needed to. Have fun. ))

CHAPTER 1: FIREWORKS

The late-summer sky of Konoha was filled with light, captivating onlookers with its radiance. Luminescent sparks rained down on the bustling village, mostly going unnoticed in the excitement. All manners of stands stood along the congested streets, receiving hefty attention from the locals. Light, rapid music could be heard above the chatter, and quite a few had dropped their shame and started dancing.

Events like this only happened once or twice a year, and usually a few people would stay inside, away from the noise. On this night, however, the houses were completely vacant; every single person, including the shinobi (who hadn't been given any missions for this one occasion), was amid the enormous crowds on the streets of Konoha. In fact, the shinobi were probably enjoying it more than anybody else. Endless missions, day after day, got awfully tiring, even if they had great pay. Even the estates had emptied out; many noblemen and women were blended in among the civilians.

Children running around, laughing, their parents talking avidly to each other. The music's tempo increased, earning many cheers from the crowds. Yet more people joined in the dancing, smiling brightly (perhaps drunkenly; Konoha's festivals usually included very potent wines and beers, which were strong enough to get even that jerk with the stick up his ass from work to loosen up a bit). Another shower of sparks descended, giving an ethereal glow to the scene. No, occasions like the village of the hidden leaf's one hundredth birthday didn't occur too often.

He hated it. Despite the cheery atmosphere, Sasuke's mood was worsening by the second. Fifteen years was plenty of time to move on, but he had deemed it impossible, before a certain vow was fulfilled. He would have been closer to fulfilling that vow if his stubborn companions hadn't convinced him to participate in this foolishness, yet there he was, sitting sullenly by himself, as far away from the commotion as he could get. Mind made up, the onyx eyed prodigy stood up brusquely and started walking in the direction of his home. A home too big to belong to only one person.

"Where ya goin', Sasuke?"

Cursing to himself, he turned around to face the pest. Blonde hair sticking up in every direction, whisker-like streaks under wide, bright blue mischievous eyes, Uzumaki Naruto stood out quite a bit. Giving his trademark grin, hands behind his head, the fox-like trickster continued, "Come on, the party hasn't even started!"

Choosing not to dignify him with a response, Sasuke turned around again and started walking again. Not a second has passed when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Clenching his fists, he snarled, "What?" without looking behind him. When a few seconds passed and Naruto hadn't said anything, now extremely annoyed, the pale, raven haired man whirled on the spot with a glare that could kill many small mammals.

Grinning like an idiot, Naruto simply pointed towards one of the large throngs of people. Reluctantly, Sasuke looked. It took him a moment, but eventually he saw what the spike-headed fool was pointing at. Amid the dancing crowds, one person stood out. Pale, rose-coloured hair piled on top of her head, Haruno Sakura twirled jubilantly on the spot. Long sleeves flowing about her, her green eyes glinted happily as she kept pace with the music.

"Isn't Sakura-chan cute?"

Awestruck, Sasuke stood and gawked for a few seconds before regaining his composure. Clearing his throat, he walked quickly back to his seat without a word. As he passed by, Naruto snickered gleefully as he noticed the flushed look on his comrade's face. The prankster was about to go back the crowds, when he head a voice from behind him.

"Hi, Naruto-kun!"

Naruto instantly recognized the voice, and turned around to talk.

"Hey, Hinata."

The heiress to the Hyuuga clan had been surprising him a lot lately. Not only had she been approaching him less awkwardly than before, but she had gained a certain energy in speaking to people in general. It seemed she had grown accustomed to representing her clan with confidence; a shy, worrisome leader couldn't lead a clan in any direction. Her quiet nature still surfaced on occasion, though.

"Ummm… I actually have a favor to ask, o-on behalf of Hiashi-sama…" Her timid, twelve-year-old self seemed to be persisting; it still seemed as if it troubled her to ask of other people, no matter how trivial the matter.

Grinning despite himself, Naruto asked, "What is it?"

A reddish tinge appeared on Hinata's cheeks as she answered hesitantly, "Eh, we were wondering if… I-if, you could maybe show Hanabi around Konoha for a few weeks? She can't really get out much, with training… I would do it myself, but I have my duties to attend to and all. Sorry to impose upon you."

Naruto cocked his head to one side, curious. "Okay, but why me?"

Smiling shyly, Hinata continued, "Well, we had a discussion about it, and I recommended you. Thank you so much, Naruto-kun; I really appreciate it!"

Returning the smile, Naruto laughed a little before asking, "Sooooo, where is she?"

Hinata indicated to the dancing crowd; sure enough, there was Hanabi, talking to Sakura about something. "Thanks. See you later!" With a have, Naruto hurried over to the group of people and began conversing with the two girls. Hinata could have sworn she heard a disappointed sigh from Sasuke, sitting a small ways away from all the commotion, when they stopped dancing to talk, before she heard a familiar voice from nearby.

"He really can't take a hint," said Neji, watching Naruto in a somewhat disbelieving manner. "Everybody knows it but him, I think."

Feeling the heat in her cheeks intensify, Hinata put her hands on her hips in an attempt to look intimidating as she protested, "I don't know what you mean, Neji-nii-san." The attempt failed miserably, however, due to the fact that her cousin was a good few inches taller than her. Her efforts got her a raised eyebrow and a rather skeptical smile.

Giggling, Hinata waved and ran over to join her sister. No sooner had she left than a kunoichi with two messy buns on either side of her head took her place, shifting her weight to one leg and crossing her arms. Smiling coyly, Tenten asked, "What are you doing all the way over here, away from all the fun?"

Neji waited a few moments before rolling his pale eyes, then answering, "You don't seriously expect me to go over and dance, do you?"

Rolling her eyes in turn, the brunette replied, "Nooooo, but I do, to put it in your own words, seriously expect you to have a good time."

"I am."

"Doesn't look like it to me. You're starting to act like the Uchiha." The two glanced over at Sasuke, still waiting on the bench, resting his chin on his hands. Neji quickly averted his attention skywards. Sighing resignedly, Tenten stared at the sky as well, and quipped, "There must be something awfully interesting up there tonight."

"You mean apart from the fireworks, stars, clouds, the moon, and most importantly, the insects? You know, those annoying little things that fly around your head and buzz in your ears?"

"I'm shocked. I don't think I've ever heard so much from you at once."

"You're starting to rub off on me. I've never been so inclined to bother someone in my life."

"So, you're saying that if I went over there and had a glass of wine, you'd do the same?"

"Definitely not."

"Awwww, come on! I'm rubbing off on you, remember?"

"Not to that extent."

Tenten put one hand on her chin and raised an eyebrow before taunting, "So, Hyuuga Neji, the manliest of the manly, isn't man enough to drink one itty bitty glass of wine?"

That did it. Dignity still miraculously intact, Neji walked quickly over to one of the bars amid the crowds. A moment later he had a clear glass in his hand, filled to the brim with an alcoholic beverage of some sort. He turned to face Tenten, looked directly at her, then downed it all in one gulp. Sensing a challenge, the kunoichi ran over to join him, producing a thick wallet.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Some distance away, another two people watched disapprovingly. One of them curled a loose strand of blonde hair around her finger, a half-smile on her face, while commenting, "You know, most people would think 'the genius of the Hyuuga clan' would be smarter than that."

The other rolled his eyes, stifling a yawn. "Men shouldn't let themselves get so worked up over what a woman says…" He trailed off, shooting a quick look at Sasuke, who sat up abruptly as Sakura resumed her dance, Hanabi and Naruto having disappeared from the crowd. "… Or does."

The blonde made an indignant "hmph" noise, then added, "Well, women shouldn't let themselves be ignored like that." She gave the other person an annoyed glare, which intensified as she realized that he wasn't even paying attention. His eyes were fixated on the sky.

Eventually, without moving his line of vision even a centimeter, he asked drowsily, "You say something, Ino?"

Gritting her teeth, Ino took a few steps towards the unsuspecting fool. After standing before him for a moment with no reaction in return, she grabbed the spiked ponytail on top of his head and pulled. Hard. Snapped out of his daze, the lazy-eyed brunette quickly came to his senses.

"Nyaargh! Ino, what the hell was-" He didn't have time to finish as a fist connected with his face. Falling backwards on to the ground, he heard the blonde yell "SHIKAMARU, YOU IDIOT!" before stomping away.

Clutching his nose, Shikamaru sat up and gave a stuffy-sounding sigh.

"How drubblesome."

oooooooooooooooooooo

Sneaking behind stands and people, two shinobi made their way away from the celebration. The noise didn't get any quieter, though. Actually, it got louder. Situated a good mile or so away from the festivities was a sandy expanse in which experts placed fireworks, then waited for them to launch before going back to set up more. Without a sound, the ninjas began sprinting towards their destination.

Well, not _completely_ without a sound. In the process of speeding up, a certain blonde trouble-maker's shoe caught on a rock, sending him face-first into the dirt. The other shinobi skidded to a stop, the beads on the ends of her braids knocking against each other. As Naruto lifted his face from the ground, groaning, Hanabi put a finger up to her mouth and shushed him. Not that it really mattered how much sound they made, considering the noise the fireworks were emanating.

Anyways, they kept up the act until they reached the launching area. Located a little ways from the sand was a large wagon filled with fireworks; just what they had been looking for. Waiting for the small group of people to run off after lighting the long cylinders, the duo conversed.

"So, what were the seals again?" Hanabi asked quietly, keeping a watchful eye on the experts from behind a tree.

Peering up from a thick rose bush, Naruto whispered back, "Boar, Tiger, Serpent, and Monkey, in that order."

As various crackling sounds spontaneously met their ears, the two of them leapt from their hiding spots and ran as fast as they could to the wagon. Each grabbing as many fireworks as they could carry, they stuck them all upright in the sand, way too close together to be safe. Performing the four hand seals in a matter of seconds, the two ninjas each held up their index fingers. Small balls of flame hovered millimeters above their fingertips, and the shinobi used the limited time left they had before the other fireworks lifted off to light the wicks beneath each slim rocket. When the task was done, they stood for a moment and marveled their work before leaping back to their hiding spots.

Just as their feet touched the ground, a mini explosion shook the earth they were standing on. Immediately afterwards, all the fireworks in the field lifted off simultaneously. For a moment, the duo could have sworn everything was silent, before a whistling sound cut through the air. All of a sudden, the sky lit up in a bright burst of colour, sparks floating down towards the ground. Blinding flashes of green, pink, blue, purple and gold erupted overhead in an almost blinding display. Then the colours folded in on themselves, fizzling away into nothing.

A deafening cheer came from behind the shinobi, followed by bewildered murmurs from the area in front of them. Grinning ear to ear, Naruto and Hanabi slapped five before declaring in unison, "That was awesome!"

"Well, this is cute."

Both ninjas started, then slowly turned to see who had addressed them. Smiling in amusement beneath a tight mask hiding the lower part of his face, Hatake Kakashi the Copy Ninja ruffled his blonde student's hair and continued absent-mindedly, "But you know… That looked pretty dangerous to me."

Fearing the worst, Naruto and Hanabi grinned innocently back up at him in a last-ditch attempt.

oooooooooooooooooooo

After cheering and applauding in turn, Kiba lifted a mug to his mouth and smirked at the small, white dog sitting next to him before taking a drink. "Too bad dogs can't drink alcohol."

The dog barked at him a few times, tail wagging back and forth. Shrugging, Kiba took another sip and replied, "If you say so." He cast an incredulous glance at his teammate a few feet away, standing as still as a tree, looking the other way. Putting down his mug, he got up quietly, snuck up behind him, then tapped him on the shoulder a few times. When he didn't get an answer, Kiba took a few steps back to his seat, before suddenly stopping and turning around. Again, no reply.

Rolling his eyes, the dog-like shinobi crept up behind his teammate for the second time. Standing pointedly behind him for a good minute or so without any reaction, he stuck his hand in front of his partially covered face and started to wave it in front of his sunglasses. Almost immediately, a cold hand caught Kiba's, who jumped visibly before going to sit back down, muttering something that sounded vaguely like "no fun".

Kiba looked at his mug for a few seconds, then called, "You know, Shino, you look too sober to me."

That got his attention. Turning to face Kiba, Shino asked calmly, "And why would you think that?"

Starting to grin, Kiba stood up straight and flattened his arms against his sides. Making a mock-serious face, he replied, "You look like THIS all the time. Might as well be a tree." The dog barked in agreement. Showing off some very pointy canines, he added, "Akamaru thinks so too."

Raising an eyebrow, Shino continued, "Your point?"

Still grinning, Kiba said maliciously, "My point is, have you ever had alcohol before?"

A bit flustered, Shino faced the other way again.

"A-ha! I knew it!"

Just as Kiba was about to pry further, he was interrupted by a nasal voice.

"Does eider ob you hab a birror?" asked Shikamaru, covering a bloody, slightly bent nose with his hand.

Kiba glanced at his mug, then answered lamely, "Yeah, I have a beer. Why?"

Smacking his forehead with his other hand, Shikamaru insisted frustradedly, "Nod a beer, a _birror_."

Eyes widening slightly in comprehension, Kiba laughed, "_Oooohhh_, a _mirror_! Hold on, let me check." Rummaging through his pockets, he pulled out used Kleenex, paper clips, a candy wrapper, and finally, a pale blue compact mirror. Noticing the weird look Shikamaru was giving him, he hastily explained, "Errr, this is Hinata's. I had something stuck in my teeth, so she let me borrow it."

"Sure. Ad you forgod id was in your pocked?"

Flushing, Kiba huffily replied, "Yeah," before handing him the compact. Shikamaru opened it, and immediately sneezed, spraying flecks of blood all over the place.

"Whad de hell? Id sbells like dog! How log hab you had this thig?" When he didn't get an answer, he rolled his eyes and looked back at the mirror. "Neber mind." Examining the shiny surface, it became very apparent that his nose was broken; it was bent soundly to the left.

Sighing congestedly, Shikamaru grabbed his nose again. Flinching, he snapped it back into place. Quite literally "snapped". Muttering something along the lines of "damn troublesome", he handed Kiba the mirror and walked away.

As soon as the compact was back in his hands, Kiba noticed the specks of red dotting the circular mirror. Glaring at Shikamaru's retreating back, he muttered, "Great, now I have to clean it," before slipping it back in his pocket.

oooooooooooooooooooo

"I really don't see why you're so upset," said the rather large man, having another sip of misou soup. "Shikamaru's always like that."

"You wouldn't understand, Chouji, you're a guy." Glaring at nothing in particular, Ino bit another odango off the stick.

"… _Ohhhh_, is it that time of mo-"

"_No_."

Not fazed in the least, Chouji continued his meal. "Okay, if you say so."

"I hate him."

"Who?"

"I hate him."

"Oh."

"I hate him."

"You're not being very reasonable."

"I hate him."

"You're better off giving up." A new voice had entered the "conversation".

Chouji turned on his seat. Predictably, there was Shikamaru, looking bored as ever. Noticing the sweets in Ino's hand, he commented dryly, "I thought women only do that when they're PMSing."

With speed that would shame a professional boxer, Ino rammed her palm into Shikamaru's nose and stormed off.

Stumbling backwards for the second time in the past half hour, Shikamaru felt his nose and cursed.

"Goddabbit!"

oooooooooooooooooooo

"Kakashi-sensei, this isn't fair!" Naruto whined, setting down an expensive looking plate on the side of the counter and picking up another to dry. "I'm missing all the fun!" He heard a short chuckle from behind him.

"It's your own fault," said Kakashi nonchalantly, flipping to the next page of the small book in his hands. "Besides, you can go back out once you're done. You're lucky I left the window open so you could see outside."

"But nobody got hurt! Actually, everybody seemed to _enjoy_ it."

"It was still foolish, dragging young Hanabi into your prank."

"She's not _that_ young. And how do you know it was _my_ prank, hm? What if it was _her_ idea?"

"Trust me. I know."

"How?"

"Unlike you, she didn't grow up used to acting out. You're stalling."

Pouting, Naruto turned back to the sink and picked up another dish. "That was uncalled for." When he received no answer, he sighed and resumed his chore. "This feels suspiciously like a time-out…"

ooooooooooooooooooo

A tall man in his early twenties with dark, cropped hair made his way to one of the many tables standing off to the side of the celebration. It was like all the other tables, small and not easily noticed; its company wasn't too unordinary either. The two sitting at the table were quite far from sober, and barely stopped to talk between drinks. That was actually the only point of the tables; after five or so glasses, most people found it hard to stand and chug beer simultaneously, and eventually had to sit down to keep from falling over. The man would have passed right by the table, had he not recognized the two seated at it.

A young woman with her long hair in buns on the top of her head turned to look at him, a flushed, drowsy look on her face. She gave a lop-sided smile, then raised one hand in casual greeting.

"Hey, Lee. Watsup?"

Lee waved back, then drew closer to the table, stepping between Tenten and Neji. Flashing his infamous grin, he replied, "Nothing much, though I probably couldn't say the same for you two."

The Hyuuga acknowledged his old teammate with a slight nod, bearing the same expression as the kunoichi sitting across from him, then proceeded to down another glass of sake. Clenching his fist dramatically, the taijutsu speciallist struck his favourite "nice guy" pose and proclaimed, "Ah, the raw excitement that is youth! No matter what the place or time, you can always count on--"

"Lee. We've heard that one already." The speech was cut short by a rather bored-sounding Tenten, sipping a glass of wine en suite. Neither of the three made a sound afterwards, save for the occasional hiccup.

Suddenly, there was a muffled clattering sound as Neji tumbled backwards off of his chair in a dead faint. The weapons master smiled triumphantly down at him, clutching her wallet (which was now considerably more empty than it had been an hour ago). "I win." No longer had those words been uttered than Tenten lost her sense of ballance and fell face-first on to her companion, also somewhat comatose.

Lee continued to grin at the scene before him, shaking his head in mock disapproval. After a moment, he gathered his friends' things and stepped closer to them. He bent over and carefully lifted them both into a wobbly standing position against his shoulders, then secured a firm grip around their waists.

"For a woman and someone so skinny, these two sure are heavy," he muttered under his breath, before taking off at incredible speed towards his house.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Sasuke's eyelids began to droop as he continued to observe Sakura and her movements. He saw the cheery woman almost every day due to the close proximity in which they lived of each other, but she rarely wore make up or dressy clothes. Such was the case tonight; he suspected it would be one of the only times in his life he would see her like that. He began to doze off, the many long nights of missions slowly catching up to him. The sight was almost hypnotic...

A soft tapping on his shoulder startled the pale man out of his sleep, and bleary-eyed, he turned to see who it was. He nearly jumped out of his seat when his eyes found Sakura smiling down at him, hands on her knees. She giggled a little at his obvious surprise, smile spreading, then commented, "You look tired, Sasuke-kun. Been staying up late?"

A weary nod was answer enough. Sasuke stood up stiffly, and in looking at his feet in the process of thinking of something to say, he missed a worried look from his childhood companion. She covered it up quickly, and added, "Take care of yourself," before going home for the night.

He watched her retreating back momentarily, then said in a barely audible voice, "I will." Going home seemed like a very good idea at the time.

The short walk was very uneventful, and we would have fallen asleep again had he not been walking. Sasuke eventually found himself in front of the enormous Uchiha complex, and stopped at the wide entrance habitually before slowly entering and making his way to his house. All of the other buildings were vacant, but not eerily so. He had grown used to the lonely feeling of the place, ever since the incident fifteen years ago... Fifteen years seemed an eternity ago. Walking by the broken glass windows of the small bakery on the side of the stone pathway had become a daily occurance. Not once had he thought of fixing up the place, not until his two goals had been fulfilled... Then he would actually have a reason to do so.

As Sasuke opened the door to his large home, he remembered how hard it had been to live there ever since the incident; almost every room brought back memories of what had lead up to the tragedy, and it had made him feel completely helpless at the beginning. But now he knew there was nothing he could have done to stop it from happening, as he entered his own small room and sat down on the futon.

He stared at the vacant window for a moment, before muttering, "I'm not changing with you in here, Kakashi."

The tall form of his teacher faded into view, still holding the orange book in one of his hands. Without looking up from the novel, he cut straight to the point. "I have a mission for you."

Slightly confused at the statement, Sasuke inquired, "And when did you become Hokage?"

As if predicting the question, Kakashi answered somewhat skeptically, still focused on his book, "She is currently... Unable to assign missions at the time." It seemed the Fifth had been among the many drinking themselves into a stupor that evening. Which wasn't much of a surprise, really.

Still curious as to the nature of his new assignment, the Uchiha waited patiently for an explanation. After a while of nothing but the wind blowing against the curtains and the occasional flip of a page, the former ANBU closed the covers of "Come Come Tactics, Vol. 3" and looked at his student before beginning, "The mission is to track down a certain S-rank criminal." Having caught Sasuke's attention, he continued, "When you find him, orders are to capture him and bring him back to Konoha if he is willing to negotiate. If not, you have permission to apply force. And if worst comes to worst, you may have to kill him. Am I clear?"

Sasuke nodded somberly, awaiting further details.

"He was last seen in the village of the Hidden Cloud in the Lightning Country; keep in mind that you may end up in places where you are not particularly welcome, so be careful."

"Got it. Is anybody coming with me on this mission?"

"No."

Slightly baffled at Kakashi's answer, he thought for a moment before asking, "Who is it I'm after?"

For a moment, the infamous copy-ninja seemed to hesitate. How would he react upon hearing the answer? 'Well, it's too late for second thoughts now,' the experienced shinobi realised. Still, it was with great regret that he replied, "Uchiha Itachi."

Immdiately, Sasuke bristled. He hadn't heard the name in a long time, and he would have preferred it to stay that way. Clenching his fists, the young man said acidly, "I suppose I don't need to ask why." Still, it was terribly convenient that HE had been picked for this particular mission. The Hokage would never have agreed to it... Except if she was completely hammered, as she was now. He suspected his teacher had played an important role in convincing Tsunande to "let" him take part in it.

As it were, there was no backing down from this sort of opportunity. If everything went well, in the end, he would have his revenge and a huge weight would be lifted off of his life.

Kakashi sighed at the hateful look on Sasuke's face. He hadn't expected him to forgive his older brother for committing such a heinous crime, but it was still hard to see one of his students suffering over something that couldn't have been avoided. He had been growing increasingly distant as of late; besides, it was about time he started thinking about his future, rather than his past. It would be a shame to see what was once such a prestegious clan wither away into nothing. Kakashi wasn't especially fond of the whole "revenge" concept, but it looked like it was the only thing that would make his pupil happier.

The awkward slience persisted for many minutes, before a light "thud" noice, followed by a quiet "ouch" was heard from below the windowsill outside. Recognizing the voice, Sasuke stood brusquely and passed his teacher on the way to the window. Peering down into the bushes, he could make out a faint distortion in the atmosphere, and made a simple seal with his index and middle finger, cancelling the illusion. The familiar form of Sakura came into view, crouched in the garden with one hand pressed firmly over her mouth, the other clutching a bruise on her forehead. It was quite a comical appearance, despite the seriousness of the scene.

Wide-eyed, she blinked a few times before standing up and smiling sheepishly before stepping into the room through the window, earning a strange look from Kakashi. At the sight of her sensei, she pursed her lips and planted her hands firmly on her hips before demanding in a concerned voice, "You aren't actually planning on letting him go alone, are you?"

Sasuke wandered back to the futon, sitting down tiredly and putting his head in his hand. She always had to be so... So _worried _about everyone else, without a care as to what could happen to her in the process. In some instances, it wasn't a very profitable attitude, but he had learned over the years how incredibly stubborn his teammate could become. Kakashi had also caught glimpses of Sakura's fierce determination to ensure everybody's safety in given situations, and didn't even bother arguing with her to spare himself the headache. He simply glanced at her and asked, "You _are_ aware of the danger of this mission?"

She nodded, a serious look working its way across her face. "I _was_ eavesdropping."

Sighing once again, Kakashi looked quickly at the cieling before informing the pair resignedly, "You leave tomorrow morning, get some rest." In a small cloud of smoke, he disappeared from the room.

Sakura glanced over at Sasuke, who appeared to be deep in thought, eyes closed in concentration. She cast him an appologetic look before heading towards the window. "See you soon," she said quietly, before exiting the premises.

Eyes opening slightly, he replied softly, "Yeah."

(( Well, was it worth the wait? I would certainly appreciate reviews if you have an opinion. Again, sorry for the delay. I got... Distracted. Try to ignore the crappy scene dividers, ehehehe. ))


	3. CHAPTER 2: KILLER'S INTENT

((Wow, um... Heh. Well, I can't say_ I _wasn't expecting this. My friends all probably know how long it takes me to update from past fanfictions, too. I just can't force myself to write; what I manage to produce under pressure never turns out quite how I want it, and I can be very nit-picky, as you'll come to discover. All I can really say is I'm sorry to those who had to wait a long time for this chapter, and I hope you enjoy it.))

CHAPTER 2: KILLER'S INTENT

Neji awoke face-down on a hardwood floor, half of him sprawled over a small futon. The moment he opened his eyes groggily, his head pounded painfully, and his hand flew immediately to his temples. As soon as he did so, his arm began to ache persistantly, along with the rest of him. As if that weren't enough, he felt somewhat sweaty and hot, not to mention queasy. Uttering a few low curses, he lifted himself from the floor, only to flop backwards on to the thin mattress.

Staring at the cieling for a moment, trying to blink away the flashing dots clouding his vision, the ninja began to notice a few familiar things in the room. It wasn't his house, that was for sure, but he had been there a few times before. It was... Lee's house. Why was he in Lee's house? He wasn't left with much time to think about it, as an extremely unpleasant feeling hit him in the stomach. Lurching upwards, he ignored his body's screams of protest and stood up wobbily, looking around frantically for a bathroom. He spotted one on the far left of the room and made a dash for it, tripping over the small strip of wood separating the two rooms and banging his head off the toilet seat. Still, he managed to open it in time.

After he was sure he was finished revisiting what he had eaten the day before, Neji wiped a few strands of hair from his face, then paused. They were short, about shoulder length. Since when had his hair been shoulder length? Wiping his mouth with the back of his shaky hand, he grabbed the edge of the sink and pulled himself up into a standing position to look in the mirror. Sure enough, his hair was considerably shorter than it had been the previous night. He gawked at his reflection in disbelief for a good few minutes, before the door on the opposite side of the room opened.

None other than Lee stood leaning against the doorway, with a mug of coffee in his hand. He cast Neji's shocked expression a wide-eyed look, cocking his head slightly to one side in what he thought was a perfect immitation of innocence, although he knew perfectly well what he was so startled about. The ill-looking Hyuuga eventually turned to look murderously at his teammate.

"Lee," he said with clenched teeth, "what did you do?"

Shrugging nonchallantly, he replied, "I had wanted to make your hair style more charismatic and youthful like _mine_ for ages, but you kept on moving around, so I couldn't finish."

Wrong answer. Needless to say, if Neji's hangover hadn't been so bad, what could have happened afterwards would _not _have been pretty. However, the situation was as mentioned above, so instead of introducing his comrade to a world of hurt, Neji glared for a moment more before taking a few steps and stumbling back on to the futon. Groaning, he asked in a pained voice, "Do you have to talk so loud?"

Lee feigned an expression of absolute shock, then exclaimed in that antagonizingly loud voice of his, "What's this! The genius Hyuuga Neji's inner flame has diminished to but a spark! For--"

"_Lee_." The protege of Maito Gai was interrupted sourly by the man on the futon a few meters away, who had to raise his voice more than he liked in his current state to be heard through the pillow his face was pressed to. Blinking for a moment, the aforementioned ninja finally took a hint. After a quick shrug, he made his way out of the room, though not bothering to quiet his footsteps any. In fact, if listening closely enough, they'd seem louder than usual. Neji sighed deeply, covering his ears with both palms.

A short ways away, Tenten stirred under the covers on another futon. She opened one eye experimentally, then closed it quickly as a fearsome headache took hold. Pulling the blanket over her head, she mumbled, "Breathe more quietly, would you?"

oooooooooooooooooooo

On the other side of Konoha, many hours earlier at the break of dawn, two people walked silently through the village's large main gates. They each sported a travelling bag of some sort, each stuffed to the point that the zippers wouldn't close all the way, indicating the long distance they had yet to go before reaching their objective. The lone guard cast a weary look at the two travellers, noticing the metal bands carved with the insignia of a leaf marking their origin. He nodded once to let them know they could pass, and resumed his light slumber, leaning against the stone frame tiredly. The two resumed their steady pace immediately, keeping silent all the while.

It was only around an hour later, when the two ninja were seated for a quick breakfast, that Sakura spoke up. Unlike Sasuke, the cheery kunoichi was used to talking and laughing with her companions, and the lack of chatter was beginning to unnerve her. Still, she broke the silence awkwardly.

"This feels a little weird to me," she started uneasily, taking a small bite out of a piece of dried apple. "I've been on plenty of missions away from home, but they've always been with at least three other people."

Sasuke seemed to consider his answer for a moment, then replied steadily, "It would have happened eventually. There have been more casualties lately, so ressources are getting rather slim..."

If she had been ten or so years younger, Sakura would have squealed on and on about how smart her handsome Sasuke-kun was, how knowledgable about the situation with a giddy smile all the while, no matter how serious the topic. However, a decade was definitely enough time to mature somewhat, so a simple nod of grim comprehension made for an answer.

The two were silent for the rest of the time they partook in their impromptu breakfast, and almost the rest of the morning, save for an occasional meek comment or question. When the sun had found its way to the sky above their heads, the two of them found themselves in the more agricultural part of the Fire Country, residing just before the huge forest spanning across the most part of the continent. They passed by the farms and large fields without incident, but just as the sun was setting, casting a golden glow over them, there was a quiet, almost unnoticeable rustle in one of the over-grown shrubs on the side of the rough path.

The two ninjas jumped at the sound and turned to face it. Sasuke shot a glance at Sakura and signaled for her to stay quiet, then they both started inching slowly and silently towards the source of the disturbance. They were a mere foot or so from the shrub when a bright form shot from the leaves, hitting Sasuke low and hard, sending them both careening into a corn field on the opposite side of the worn road.

Seconds after hitting the ground, Sasuke was on his feet, warily examining the threat (who looked strangely familiar). After the person was finished moaning, he stood dizzily and shook his head. As it turned out, he was...

"... Naruto?" Sasuke was quite obviously startled. "What are you doing here?"

Naruto looked up and blinked surprisedly, blue eyes wider than usual. "Sasuke? That was _you_?"

A sigh. "That wasn't what I asked."

"Yeah, um..." The blonde trailed off nervously, looking more than a little antsy. "Can we talk about this later? I kinda need to go." And with that, he walked out of the large field in somewhat of a rush, not noticing as a small shape dropped from one of his unusually bulging pockets. Sasuke bent over to pick it up; it was a tomato. He scruntinized for a moment, before stepping out of the field as well, muttering, "What did you do _now_...?"

Not surprisingly, there was somebody else back on the path. He didn't appear to be very old; about sixteen or so, with dark hair tied up at the back. Looks obviously weren't of much importance to the boy, judging by the plain dark sleeveless shirt and pants he wore, but it was very apparent he was a ninja. A Konoha forehead protector was tied almost as an after-thought to an ankle, but even that could have easily gone unnoticed; the betraying feature was the eyes. They were stark white, with no trace of a pupil. Only Konoha's Hyuuga clan had such a trait, and even to foreigners signified their shinobi lineage.

Still, there was something... Odd, maybe even familiar about the boy.

Whatever conversation he and Sakura had been taking part in ended abruptly as the two ninja stepped back onto the dirt path. The kunoichi looked pleasantly surprised at seeing her blonde companion and turned to face him, exclaiming cheerfully, "Oh! Hi, Naruto." She cast a quick glance at Sasuke, then back at the Hyuuga, before giggling quietly into a gloved hand. She recieved a quizically raised eyebrow in return.

"Hi, Sakura-chan," Naruto answered uneasily, scratching the back of his head. His eyes roamed to the boy, who nodded steadily and suggested in a surprisingly effeminate voice, "We should probably get out of the middle of the road."

That was just too out of place to let slip. As he grudgingly followed the other three back into the corn field, Sasuke gave Sakura a questioning look. She shrugged nonchallantly in reply, but traces of a smile were evident at the edges of her mouth. She knew at least a little about what was going on. Still, it couldn't have been very serious, otherwise she would have told him. It was probably no more than a practical joke, and Sasuke wasn't exactly in the mood for that sort of thing.

Still, the small group of travellers made their way about half way into the crops before they stopped. It was only when the Hyuuga yawned and stretched that a trace of white, tightly-wrapped linen bandage was visible under his shirt, and Sasuke understood. Partially, at least. His teammate's twitchy behaviour was still cause for curiosity.

Naruto glanced around the area, making sure nobody but them was there. Then he sighed in relief and took his hands out of his pockets. An assortment of small fruits and vegetables tumbled out onto the ground, earning an equally wide variety of looks among the party of ninjas.

The shinobi's expression of pride became one of pain as he recieved a smack upside the head from a fuming Sakura.

"Naruto! That's childish, even for you! Corrupting Hanabi-san like that...!"

Hanabi. So_ that's _who it was.

At the word "corrupt", Hanabi began to laugh. Casting an appologetic look, she said, "It's okay, Sakura-san. I only watched."

Rubbing the back of his head, Naruto nodded eagerly. "Yeah, yeah! Besides, you never know when you could run out of food on a long trip. It helps to be able to make do with what's in the area." He made his blue eyes go wide, putting on an expression of complete innocence. The young Hyuuga snorted, and Sakura sighed, shaking her head resignedly with a small smile. Sasuke's mind was on other things, however.

... Long trip? Oh, no. He wasn't really planning to...?

"Naruto."

The blonde looked up at the seriousness of the ANBU's voice. "Hm, yeah?"

Gaze unwavering, Sasuke continued, "You do realise that this is a covert mission, and that nobody knows where you two are. A search will undoubtedly be sent out, and you'll eventually be found and sent back to Konoha. It would be better for you to just go back now."

At that, the unlikely pair smiled. "Already taken care of. I left a note in my house explaining that Hanabi and I will be gone for a while, so there's nothing to worry about."

Sakura commented skeptically, "Yeah, but don't you leave your window open all the time?"

Hanabi smacked her forehead as Naruto blanched considerably, then giggled nervously, stuffing his hands back into his pockets and averting eye contact.

The awkward silence was broken by the sound of approaching footsteps and faint yelling. The four of them froze, looking to where the racket was coming from, and could eventually see the head of a sickle as whoever it was came closer and closer to where they were. When the colourful curses the farmer was using became discernable (along with the tip of a straw hat), Naruto scrambled to pick up what he had dropped earlier, nearly tripping over his own feet in the process. Hanabi aided him in his plight, picking up some of the crops and carrying them in the rim of her shirt, and only after Sakura gave the two a look did the shinobi begin their sprint.

Having just picked a random direction and ran, Sasuke had no clue where the group was going. As he was the one in front, he made a descision and banked to the left, hoping the others would have the sense to follow him. He was sure they could outrun the enraged owner of whatever farm Naruto had decided to "make do" with, but it would be a good idea to conceal themselves, just to be safe. In his search for a tall, leafy tree to hide in, he almost didn't notice as the field ended abruptly to make way for a steep, muddy incline that lead to another path below.

'_Well,_'he thought as he skidded to a stop no more than a foot from the edge, '_there are plenty of trees._' Sasuke heard Sakura and Hanabi stop a short distance behind him, each pondering whether or not it would be a good idea to brave the rough, shrubbed hillside. He turned his head slightly and nodded, but as he readied himself for the jump, Naruto crashed through the corn field, looking overly panicked at the close proximity of the farmer, whose shouts could be heard from an alarmingly short distance from them. The bumbling ninja stopped too late, bumping into his smaller companion, and in result, sending himself and the rest of them tumbling down the slope.

It was a rough ride for the first dozen or so feet, but Sasuke was quickly able to maneuver himself into a crouched sitting position and launch himself from his heels on to the dirt road below. As he sumbled slightly from the sudden shock of his feet hitting the ground, two of the other three touched down somewhere near him, also relatively unscathed. The fourth member of the small group rolled out from a large bush of stinging nettle, covered in mud and scratches, twigs sticking out of his blonde hair. After he was finished spitting out leaves, he noticed the few crops that had survived the trip down the hillside forming a small pile a little ways away; they looked, if possible, in even worse shape than he did.

"... Awwww, _crap_."

Slightly amused at her teacher in crime's (more like petty robbery) perdicament, Hanabi picked up an apple and wiped it off on her shirt, uncaring of the large brown bruises dotting its red skin. As long as it was in one piece, it was edible, right? Naruto was quick to join her, salvaging what could still be consumed and sprucing it up a bit. All the while, Sakura watched bemusedly, giving the occasional chortle and glancing skywards, muttering something to the effect of "Those two..."

Sasuke observed from afar, contemplating recent events. They seemed to have lost their pursuer; he doubted anybody in their right mind would go down to where they were they way _they_ had. Still, any sense of direction he had had before was lost. The sun was rapidly setting, so taking the chance while it was still light out, he unzipped one of the pockets on his bag and removed a compass, turning to face where the path headed. North was to the right, so... West. The path would take them to the west. He put the compass away and took out a map of the areas surrounding Konoha, searching for where they were. To the west of the farmers' district... Huh. "Nettle Hill". How fitting.

He scanned the yellowing paper for any signs of an inn, or something to that effect. Wandering around in the dark in a region almost completely unknown to him was not on his to-do list, and even if it took he and Sakura farther from their objective, it would be a good move to find somewhere to stay for the night. He and Sakura... That's right. What was he going to do about Naruto and Hanabi? He eyed the two for a moment, then turned back to the map. He would try to convince them to go back at the inn. Leaving for a day or so for a few errands was fairly common, hardly worth worrying over...

The dark-haired ANBU captain resumed his search for somewhere to stay, and eventually caught sight of the symbol for a tavern a ways down the path. The Lightning Country was North-East, but it wouldn't really matter if you could barely see your hand in front of your face. Besides, it was impossible to reach the Hidden Cloud Village in a day or so. The way to the inn was fairly straight-forwards, anyways; follow the road until it split, then take the upper-left path. No use wearing everybody out.

Sasuke folded the map and put it back in its place. He was about to inform the other three of the plan, when something rammed into his senses with the force of a bull. Whatever it was sent a tingling feeling down his spine, like a shiver you can't get rid of, accompanied by a great feeling of dread. He scanned his surroundings for whatever could have caused this feeling of extreme unrest, but saw only the others, all looking as shell-shocked as he felt.

"What... _Was_ that?" asked a bewildered and nervous Naruto, looking warily from side to side. Without answering, Hanabi made a simple hand seal with her middle and index finger, closing her eyes. When they opened, the veins around them were clearly visible; similar lines ran from the edge of the irises to the faint outline of a pupil in each eye. She was silent for a moment in her widespread search of the area, then her brow furrowed.

"Found it."

"What is it?" Sakura asked, looking worried.

There was a brief pause before the answer. "A giant snake, at least eleven or twelve meters long. It looks like someone's on top of it."

"But aren't those kept in the second stage for the Chuunin exam?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's a summon; that would explain why whoever it is on top of it hasn't been eaten yet. Konoha's giant snakes aren't what you'd call docile."

Sasuke joined the discussion with a serious voice. "What makes you think this one is?"

That earned a few questioning looks. Naruto was the first to let his thoughts manifest into words, as usual, demanding, "What do you mean?"

"Think about it. If it had that much of a negative effect on us from a distance, it would be much worse up close."

Catching on, Sakura added in, "That sort of fearful aura is probably to freeze its prey so they don't struggle."

"In any case," Hanabi continued, Byakugan still activated, "we can't let it find us. The person on top is from the Hidden Sound. What he's doing here, I don't know, but it can't be good enough to be tresspassing on to our territory."

The Village of the Hidden Sound had only recently been established, about a decade or two ago. They'd stayed out of all the other, bigger countries' ways for the most part, but because of that nobody really knew where they stood in the alliances or if they even had any. The region where it was situated was part of the chain of smaller countries that separated the Fire Country and the Wind Country, and was only about a tenth of the size of Konoha's land of origin. Still, it was unknown if any advanced bloodlines or clans existed there, and probably would never be found out. The village's leader was unknown as well, but it was rumoured to be one of the late Third Hokage's pupils, who had all mysteriously disappeared for about the same stretch of time that it took for the Hidden Sound to be formed...

"Shit!"

Surprised at the Hyuuga's outburst, the other three followed her gaze down the path. Squinting, Sasuke could make out the faint outline of an enormous boa constrictor, its think, javelin-like head pointing out in front of it as it surveyed its surroundings. It was unmistakably heading their way, at an alarming rate, despite the slow, slithering way in which it moved. Any other observations would be saved for later as he frantically tried to think of a way to elude the giant serpent.

"Get off the road," he commanded in a low voice, startling the others out of their state of shock. They began to head for the bushes on the other side of the path, but Sakura stopped, a troubled expression on her face.

"It won't work," she stated, frowning slightly at their perdicament. "Snakes detect what's around them by their body heat, so even if we hide, it will find us, as long as we're emitting heat."

The four of them were silent, each panickedly thinking of what to do. All of a sudden, Naruto burst out, "Hey, hey! What if we reduce our body heat with that?" He pointed to one of the large puddles of mud dotting the path, resting near the bottom of the slope.

Sasuke nodded grimly, then agreed, "It might just work." Although he didn't relish the idea of covering himself with mud, it beat getting eaten by a long shot. The shinobi each hurried to the puddle, hastily smearing the thick, wet substance all over their clothes and skin.

Before they could check if they were adequately covered, Hanabi, without even looking, stated, "It's close."

Sakura stole a panicked glance, and sure enough, the giant serpent was in plain sight, only a little over two hundred meters away. Of course, if they could see it as clear as day, then it and its rider could most certainly see _them_.

Reclaiming his authority over the situation, Sasuke nodded his head towards a large, rotting tree sitting behind many bushes and shrubs on the opposite side of the road, whose roots had broken through the earth and were curling around each other. There were many small grooves created by these roots, and the ground sank low near the back of them, providing just enough space for somebody to fit and go unnoticed. "We're hiding there," he said, standing and drawing a flash-bang from his back pouch. He turned to face the snake, and narrowly avoided losing an eye to the shuriken that whizzed by his face and caught a bit of muddy skin, leaving a thin cut on his cheek. The Sound nin threw more, commanding the snake to go faster in an unaudiable voice. Its forked tongue lashed out, and the bloodlust radiating from its slitted eyes could almost be seen.

"_Go_!" Sasuke urged, pulling the string on the small sphere and looking the other way. A blinding white light erupted from it, sending the snake writhing in pain, almost dislodging its rider. The ninjas made a leap for the roots, trying to see through the flashing dots obscuring their vision. They had all barely made it out of sight when the light subsided, leaving nothing but the snake and a very angry shinobi from the Hidden Sound back on the path.

The man looked around blearily, rubbing at his eyes with the back of a clenched fist. "Damn it, I can't see!" He muttered angrily, blinking repeatedly to clear his sight. As if in response to the rider's comment, the snake flicked its tongue, searching the air for any trace of the four travellers. It moved its spear-like head around slowly, a thin flash of red penetrating the thick atmosphere every few seconds. Its eyes roved to where the shinobi were hiding.

As soon as he caught sight of the thin slit of a pupil, fear washed over every inch of Sasuke's body. His eyes met with those of the snake and widened, his face paling considerably under the dried mud. He started sinking lower to the damp ground, but then froze, completely unable to move. Still, his dark eyes remained locked with the snake's. He broke into a cold sweat, shaking almost uncontrollably in his futile effort to avert his vision. If he was found in that state, that would be it. Game over.

He crammed his eyes shut, and regretted it almost immediately. What first entered his mind was not a thought, but a picture. A body. Splayed spread-eagle on the ground, blood splattered across the ground under it and gushing from it. One leg was barely attatched, dangling by a thin stretch of skin and sinew, the rest of the muscle scattered around where it had been torn out. A few tiny fragments of bone lay in the messy puddle. The other leg was plenty intact, but bent at an odd angle, the heel facing skywards, ninety degrees from a mangled hip. From the pelvis to the collarbone was completely hollowed out, nothing but skin and an odd rib or two left where any vitals had been. An arm had been completely removed from above the elbow, and the white of a bone could be scarcely made out from behind the ripped skin and muscle. The other looked relatively unharmed at a glance, but looking for a second longer would reveal the sunken, deflated look of the upper-arm, caused in no small part by the pile of shattered bone scattered alongside it, having come from the gaping tear in the skin and muscle. About half of the head was gone, brutally torn off, the prominent organ it served to guard slowly spilling out. There wasn't much left of the face, but what was, Sasuke recognized. As his own.

The picture drilled itself into his mind, making it impossible to think or see anything else. There was nothing but his own mangled body, his remaining eye staring vacantly up into the trees, pupil shrunken to the size of a pinhead in fear before it had glazed over... His head spun uncontrollably and his stomach lurched, reeling from such a clear image of death. His eyes flew open finally, wide and terrified. Terrified... For only the second time in his twenty-two years of living, Sasuke was absolutely terrified for his life. He knew that if he moved an inch or made a single sound, he would be killed. He would end up exactly like he had seen himself only moments ago.

He clenched his teeth, still staring wide-eyed into the snake's slitted orbs. It took all of his free will not to scream in frustration and fear. It would be easier to just kill himself, instead of wait and see what awaited him at the hands of the serpent. His fate was almost completely out of his control, at this point. But then the snake turned away, flicking its forked tongue a few more times experimentally before slithering off East down the path. The rider blinked once more and scowled around the area before he disappeared completely from sight.

Sasuke waited until Hanabi climbed back on to the path tenatively, glancing from side to side with Byakugan-activated eyes until he made his way out from underneath the thick, twisted bark and through the few bushes in front. The other two were soon to join them. All four stood in silence, each looking shaken and twitchy and jumping at even the slightest noise. Suddenly, Naruto's voice broke the thick atmosphere.

"That..." he eventually decided, "was hell." Such a painfully true comment merited three grim nods.

For a while longer, the only sounds were that of the birds singing their last songs for the night, the insects, and the wind blowing through the high branches hanging over the road. Then Sasuke closed his eyes and exhaled deeply, as if to calm his nerves. When they opened again after a moment, he said with a firm voice, "We need to keep moving. It's nearly dark, and that Sound ninja is still around. There's an inn down the path, we should be able to rest safely there." He put a hand to the small cut on his face and added, "The faster we get there, the better."

Though still a deal shaken from recent events, Sakura still couldn't help a tiny smile. The Sasuke she had always known took charge easily, and was able to assess a situation and make a good decision based on what he knew in a marginal amount of time; she suspected it had something to do with his lineage. Or maybe it was because he had been pushing himself hard ever since entering the Academy fifteen years ago, then even harder after the tramautic events that followed soon after. In any case, it was no big surprise to anyone that he'd become an ANBU captain only a year after enlisting. If she had had that determination back when it mattered, she thought, she'd be a much more formidable ninja than she was now, even if she had recently achieved Jounin rank. Even Naruto, who'd become a Jounin a year before her, didn't have the leadership qualities to take on such an important position, though he was renowned as one of Konoha's strongest shinobi.

She was snapped out of her reverie as the other three began to move down the path, Sasuke in the lead as usual. Hanabi, quiet and intelligent like her sister, seemed to understand the situation perfectly, following intently. Naruto on the other hand, while obedient (unbelievably so, considering his normally brash behavior) on missions, was obviously not too keen on letting his long-time companion make orders at the drop of a hat. While the two were close friends, they were both extremely competetive in nature, and absolutely despised having to do what the other said. But, the blonde knew what would happen if he ran ahead, so he kept a consistant pace with the others and held his tongue (but not without looking indignant).

By the time Sakura had taken all of this into account, they were flat-out running, and the sun had nearly set. She watched it disappear through the blurry outlines of the trees as they sped past, then focused on the road in front of her. All four of them were quiet until a steep turn to the right appeared up ahead, at which point Sasuke commented, "It turns for a bit until a crossroads, then goes straight until the inn!", having to yell over the wind whipping at his front as he ran.

He began to bank with the path when a big, wet raindrop hit him square in the nose. It was followed by another, and then several more, until salty water was pouring through whatever feeble protection the trees provided. The mud washed away in a matter of seconds; if they were to encounter the snake and its rider again, there would be no hiding, even if the heavy rain did make the air a bit cooler. At such a thought, he opened the main zipper on his sopping wet duffle bag, withdrawing a sheathed, standardized ANBU short-sword.

Almost as soon as he did, a scaly head lashed out from around the final bend a few meters ahead. Sasuke dove to the side, sending muddy water spraying in every direction as he skidded backwards across the damp ground, narrowly avoiding being swallowed whole by the slithering monstrosity. Finding a handle on his blade, he drew it quickly and stood, trying to make out the snake through the thick sheet of rain obscuring his vision. He could faintly see the tip of its tail vanish into the thick spray of mist that had rolled into the forested area of the Fire Country with the rain, soon followed by the voices of the other three. He stayed still for a moment, waiting to see if the serpent would come back his way. Then the ground shook violently, like something extremely heavy had been dropped from high up. Stumbling from the tremor, he made up his mind and surged forwards, sword at the ready, pulled back to his side.

"Don't look it in the eye!" he shouted, remembering the pure terror he had experienced not half an hour ago. He was answered by a sound that would have been almost comical if he hadn't known what it meant, as he caught sight of three of Naruto's Shadow Replications vanishing into balls of smoke. As soon as he could see all three of the other ninjas, the man on top of the snake from earlier lept from his perch, drawing a small kunai blade from his back pouch. But he wasn't fast enough to strike; Sasuke dragged the edge of his blade across the Sound ninja's side as he feinted to the left, gathering chakra to his feet and leaping over the summon before the man had even made it half way to him.

He touched down as Naruto was just starting to shape the energy he had gathered in his hand into a sphere, his other arm a blur as it beat down on the swirling vortex of chakra, compressing it into a discernable shape. A little ways away, Sakura kneeled by a pale and sweaty Hanabi, her hand glowing with a faint light as she pressed it against the Hyuuga's upper-arm, closing the small puncture wound. No sooner had the bleeding stopped than the younger girl doubled over on her hands and knees, and he looked away out of respect as she was violently sick. Just as his eyes met the snake, Naruto lunged, pushing the destructive ball of chakra into the creature's exposed belly.

With a shrieking hiss, the serpent thrashed wildly, blood flying from its maw. Then it fell forwards, mouth open wide. Sasuke got a good look at the pair of two-foot long fangs as they plummeted towards him, the poison sack resting in between emptying itself for a final attack. Just as the snake's jaw had reached him, he thrust his sword upwards, not even flinching as he felt it go through the roof of its mouth. Blood and poison spattered from the fatal wound, most of it landing on his arms. He winced as he felt the viscous liquid of the two beginning to burn his exposed flesh and yanked his sword free, stepping back into the rain as the reptile's head fell the short distance to the ground. The rest of the acidic compound washed off along with the blood fairly quickly, but there was still some damage done; numerous patches of skin had peeled off into small rolls at the bottom of the injuries, and while they didn't hurt terribly, the sting was rather unpleasant.

"Careless," he spat disgustedly, crouching to clean his weapon in a puddle at his feet with a frown. As he stood sharply and was about to sheath the sword, he heard someone take a step behind him.

Sakura asked, "Can I take a look?" Although she tried to mask it, concern was clearly written on her features, down to the way she anxiously ground her heel into the soggy dirt.

Sasuke silently turned to face her, clearly showing the marks on his arms; there was no need to say anything. She bit her bottom lip, studying the unsightly burns for a moment before remarking, "This will take a minute." The kunoichi made a few simple hand seals, then when a white glow envelopped her hands, she moved them slowly from the bottom of one of the wounds to the top, returning the raw skin to its original location. Then she repeated the process, going faster for the smaller injuries. Eventually, he lifted his arm slightly so she could reach the ones on the sides, and did the same with the other when she was finished healing the first.

After around ten minutes Sakura stepped back and exhaled deeply, looking tired. A small part of Sasuke wanted to thank her, but the rest of him knew how bad he was at being grateful. So instead, he looked over to Naruto as he was helping a shaky Hanabi to her feet. "What happened?"

She took a quick glance as well, then replied uneasily, "I'm not really sure." But that hardly qualified as an answer, so she continued, "After you jumped out of the way, Hanabi-san just... Froze. The man on top of the snake threw a few kunai at her, and one got stuck in her arm. I landed a hit on the snake, but my aim was off, so Naruto created a few Kage Bunshin to finish the job. That didn't work either, and then..." The ninja curled a few strands of her vibrantly coloured hair around a finger absentmindedly as she tried to recall what happened next, then remembered. "And then you came in." Sasuke nodded briefly, having understood.

"Hey," said Naruto, now standing a considerable bit closer, a look of bewilderment almost completely covered up by that earnest expression he got that one could almost label "outraged" or "perturbed". The others knew well what it meant, so it was no surprise to them what came flying out his mouth next. "What the hell's going on? Was that creep part of your mission, or what? This is getting seriously weird!"

"I'll explain when we get to the inn," Sasuke answered stoically, matching Naruto's serious look with his own. It was almost completely dark and the rain was still coming down hard, the mist creating an eerie, almost etheral white glow over the scene. He turned to commence the rest of the short voyage only to see the small shape of a kunai, rapidly approaching. Red exploded from his pupils, spreading to the rest of the irises like wildfire, and in a flash he reached out and grabbed the short knife by its handle as it passed his face. He then tossed it to his other hand, flinging it back at its source. When there was no response, his eyes faded to the same dark gray as before. Without a word, he started walking down the path once more.

Naruto was the first to follow, albeit reluctantly, still not completely satisfied with the answer he had gotten. He knew it wouldn't be a good idea to pester Sasuke for details in his tense state, and as much as he hated going at somebody else's pace, he wasn't completely stupid; it was possible there were more snakes out there, and though he wasn't one to second guess himself, it still wasn't a very good idea to fight one of those things alone. All the same, he'd have to wait to hear the whole story.

Sakura handed Hanabi her small bag a few feet back, picking up and shouldering the bulkier one she'd flung to the side during the fight. The younger girl nodded appreciatively, her mouth stretched into a grim line. Although she had finished vomiting a while ago, she still felt that if she opened her mouth, she'd be sick again; breathing through her nose would have to suffice for the time being. Seeing her discomfort, the older of the two kunoichi asked quietly, "You okay?"

Hanabi nodded again, avoiding eye contact this time, as if embarassed by her current state. It was true, Sakura remarked, that she looked awfully pale and sickly, but it was a big step up from how she'd been a short while ago. Casting a caring smile, she patted her on the shoulder gently before jogging a short distance to catch up to the other two. The Hyuuga closed her eyes briefly, leaning her head back to let the rain fall freely onto her forehead. After a moment, she sighed through her nose, then blinked the water out of her eyes before walking after the other three at a brusque pace.

A little ways ahead, Sasuke paused as he passed the end of the snake; a big part of its tail was almost completely crushed, the tip pointing up. He shook his head, moving forwards again just as Naruto opened his mouth to complain about the sudden stop. Had that tremor he'd felt before been Sakura? It was almost unnerving how much strength that girl had at her disposal. No, he shouldn't say "girl"... In truth, she was almost half a year older than him. It didn't show at all through her actions at all, though. They way she behaved, the way she dressed... It felt funny to think himself younger than her. It felt funny to think about her at all.

So he didn't. The Sound ninja from before lay sprawled before him, a kunai protruding from his forehead, blood streaming in separate trails down his face from the fatal wound. Into his open eyes, and on to the ground in a puddle; it was a messy way to die. As he walked over to his discarded bag a short distance away and leant over to pick it up, a question formed in his mind. Why had that man been after them? He didn't have any personal vendetta against the Hidden Sound village; in fact, he hadn't come in contact with anybody from the small region ever since it had been founded ten years ago. All he knew was their symbol, the music note. Which sure enough was carved upon the bloodied slab of metal sewn into the face mask of the dead ninja some ways behind him. He didn't even want to consider that they knew about his mission; if that were so, then he'd quite possibly just slain an ally of the Akatsuki. Somebody from another village was dead on their land, and the consequences would not be pretty if the body was found.

After putting his weapon back in the wet, muddy duffel bag and placing the strap over his shoulder, to the confusement of the others, he backtracked to the Sound ninja. Making five quick hand seals, Sasuke inhaled deeply, leaning back. Then he let out the chakra he had been holding his chest in one breath, enveloping the bloody corpse in a huge ball of flame. Naruto jumped visibly, then stepped forwards to confront Sasuke. Sakura's hand lashed out, grabbing the back of her old teammate's shirt and pulling him away from the fire, giving him a hard look. Hanabi didn't look any better than before, if not a little sicker. But still, nobody said anything. The heavy rain beat down on the flames, threatening to put them out, but they continued to lick at thewet air fiercely, refusing to die.

Eventually, Sasuke stepped back from the inferno, face tingling from the heat despite the dampness. As soon as he did, the words burst out of Naruto like air from a popped balloon. "What the hell was that for!"

Having lost all tolerance for the situation, he snapped back with equal contempt, "_Think_, Naruto. Think, for _once_ in your life, about what would happen if somebody found the body of a Hidden Sound ninja on _our _territory." He turned his back sharply and continued down the road at a faster pace, leaving the rain to put out the fire on its own. The edge of the forest was almost in his sight; beyond that, the path would continue straight until they finally reached the shelter they had all sought and been denied for the past hour. From there, it was anybody's guess what would happen next. It was only the first day of the most important mission in his life, and he'd already gotten two, no, _three_ people involved in what could have been the start of a war between two nations; things were rapidly getting out of hand.

((I know, I know, terrible ending. I _wanter_ to get it to end after they arrived at the inn, but I was just taking up way too much space and time. It's quite possible I've made some spelling and grammar mistakes, but at this point, I really don't care as long as this chapter is at long last, _finished_. This will only get harder for me over time, so I shouldn't be complaining now, I know, but seriously, this chapter took _forever_. I posted the first chapter a month before school ended last year, and now here I am, posting the second a month after school's _started_, _this_ year. I can't say I'll have a better update time for the next chapter, because I probably won't. But please bear with me. I _will_ finish this story, even if it takes me until the end of highschool.))


	4. CHAPTER 3: BLOOD AND RAIN

(( I LIIIIIIIIIVVVE!

Yes, chillin's, it would seem it's time for an update. Working on Whatsherface inspired me to be more efficient, so from now on I'll try to do this quicker.

Anyways, I believe this chapter is a bit shorter than the others. But that shouldn't stop all you great people from enjoying it, am I right? ))

CHAPTER 3: BLOOD AND RAIN

"How may I help you this evening?"

A young woman in her twenties addressed the small group, still having to look up at them in her ridiculously tall high heels. She was similar to the other waitresses in the lounge and bar area; petite, dressed in a matching black blouse and miniskirt, both of which looked too tight. Makeup had been applied heavily to her eyelids and cheeks, and lips that were entirely too red curved into a sultry smile. Quite the charming ensemble, if you were a sleazy bum with nothing else to look at.

Uchiha Sasuke was by no means a sleazy bum. He was a grumpy, tired, fed-up ninja ready to kill the next unfortunate person to get on his nerves.

"Two rooms for the night, please," he said composedly, withdrawing the appropriate sum of money from the bag slung across his shoulder.

"This way, then." She lead the weary travelers a small distance into the hearth of the tavern, blonde curls bouncing as she stepped on to the platform behind a tall, narrow entrance desk. Hazel eyes roamed to the marked headbands adorning three of her four customers' foreheads. Another flitting glance confirmed the pale hue of the shortest of the group's pupils, but she diverted her attention quickly back to the bill as she filled it out, preparing a receipt en suite.

Sliding the thin slip of paper across the raised platform, she handed her customer a pen and said in a sweet voice, "Sign here, please."

For a fleeting second, Sasuke considered not using his real name. He was still on edge from the string of encounters in the forest, and it was possible that the Hidden Sound ninja that had assaulted them was targeting him, or one of the other three. But he dismissed the idea; if he wasn't safe in his own country, he wasn't safe anywhere. So he scrawled his name on the indicated spot quickly, still a small bit uneasy.

The woman thanked him and accepted the document and writing instrument, executing a short bow before withdrawing two pairs of keys from a drawer and handing them to him. "You have rooms 122 and 124," she explained. "They are located right up the stairs, and a couple of doors over to the right. Enjoy your stay."

He nodded, turning back to the others. They were a small distance behind him, chatting quietly amongst themselves. Compared to the other throngs of people, smoking pipes and playing cards, they looked quite out of place. Feeling the waitress' gaze still upon him, he chose to ignore it and approached.

Any hushed discussion between the three stopped, and they turned to look at him. Naruto pointedly snorted and faced the other way, while Hanabi remained silent, perhaps out of respect, but most likely queasiness. Sakura, as usual, attempted to break the ice.

"So?" It was more of a statement than a question, an effort to rekindle any conversations.

The woman from before was still watching him. Although she had moved from the entrance desk to behind the bar counter and was serving drinks, her hauntingly mirthful eyes rested on him. But why? Was she spying on him, or was it something else? He shot a sharp glance in her direction, and she didn't avert her gaze. Their eyes locked for a split second, before he turned back to the pink-haired kunoichi that had addressed him.

Talented as Sasuke was at gathering information and making observations, he didn't notice the awkwardness in the situation or her voice. Dropping a set of keys into her hand, he remarked, "Those are for room 124." Withdrawing his own set, he started towards the short staircase at the back of the lounge. "You all can do as you will, but I'm going up." With a lot on his mind, he was focused on getting to his room without incident and mulling things over, until a painfully familiar voice resounded from the entrance area behind him.

"Hey, _there_ you guys are!"

Cringing, the dark-haired man reluctantly turned to face the latest wrench that had thrown itself head-first into his plans. Said nuisance stood beaming in the doorway, grinning widely with pointed teeth, rain from outside dripping down his ruffled brown hair and face. He strode towards the surprised shinobi, earning a number of confused or skeptical stares, most of which directed at the dog perched on his shoulder.

"Kiba!" Naruto exclaimed, brightening up at running into an old companion so unexpectedly, although baffled as to exactly why. "Why're you all the way out here?"

"Well, I--" He stopped, then shifted slightly to face the Hyuuga standing idly by. Scanning her profile quickly, as if to verify something, he asked, "Hanabi, why are your--"

"Kiba-san!" She protested, turning bright red at the realisation of what he was talking about and bringing her arms up to her bound chest. He seemed to become aware of what he had implied and flushed as well, appologizing hastily.

Conscious of the odd looks they were recieving from all ends of the tavern, Sakura inquired in a hushed voice, "What's going on, here?"

Kiba turned and looked at the various men eavesdropping on their conversation, then got a look resembling the mental equivalent of smacking himself in the forehead. Lowering his voice considerably from what it had been before, he answered, "I'll explain. But is there anywhere private?"

A rather stupid question, she thought, but responded to anyways. "We have two rooms upstairs, if that's good." Seeing a nod, she jangled her keys absentmindedly and turned towards the staircase to address her upperclassman about the situation.

"Sasuke, do--" The jounin stopped. There was no trace of him.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Sasuke sat with his elbow propped against the windowsill, watching the rain slide down the panes. There were two beds behind him towards the door, separated by a small bedside table with a reading lamp and electric clock on it. The lights were out, and the room seemed to resonate with a faint, dark blue glow. The gray clouds overhead moved aside to reveal a full moon, shedding silver light through the thick glass and on to the carpeted floor, creating strange patterns through the twisted design on the window.

_Just like that one night_, he found himself thinking.

_Pouring rain, some splashing into the room from the windows left open. Everything was as it had been earlier, perfectly in order. There were signs of living; the indent of a form left in the cushions around a low table, a sliding door left ajar, and the sound of a kettle whistling from the kitchen. But none of that registered to him. All there was was two forms, one laying over the other in a steadily growing pool of blood. And the figure standing over them, face hidden by the deep shadows until he stepped forwards and into the light._

He closed his eyes momentarily to clear the memory from his mind, resting his thumb and middle finger on his temples. He had seen that moment so many times in his dreams that it had become something he could see at the slightest mention of the events fifteen years ago, a part of his subconscious that haunted him endlessly. He knew he could never change what had happened, and he could never forget. He wouldn't allow himself to until he had paid back the one responsible, and he embraced the responsibility as something that couldn't go without being accomplished. Only then could he let what had happened pass from his memory.

His mind drifted to other things, much more recent. There wasn't much point in dwelling on past dillemas if there were plenty of unresolved ones in the present, as much as they had to do with each other. He was well on his way to forgetting already, while remembering as well.

It looked as if there was another person interested in joining in on his little "quest". They all seemed intent on helping him, even if most of the four had no clue what this particular mission entailed. It would be his own fault if he didn't return. He had no intent on dying, but that was most likely the consequence of failure. It would all be revealed in time, whether or not he was finally strong enough to carry out the oath he had made so long ago.

They would all have to be sent back to Konoha. Kiba, Hanabi, Naruto... Especially Sakura.

_She walked a ways ahead of him down the forested path, humming an odd tune. It sounded strangely familiar, but before he had time to think of where it came from the motif ended, another lower, calmer one beginning. It was a little perplexing, recognizing the song but not knowing it, and entirely unimportant. He was about to dismiss it as such and think about their next route when the kunoichi stopped and looked over her shoulder at him._

_"Sorry," she said, blushing a little. "I usually only do that when I'm by myself." _

_He continued walking and passed her, shrugging. "It's fine."_

_Sasuke began to think she had stopped following him until she called from behind him, "Do you recognize it?"_

_"I may have heard it somewhere."_

_"I wouldn't be surprised." She stepped up beside him, but not too close. She knew him well. "Ayumi Hamasaki's songs get played a lot."_

_Rather uncaring of the situation, he commented, "Never heard of her."_

_There was a short exhalation from his right side, almost like a laugh. He turned his head slightly and saw Sakura looking down at the ground as she tread along it, twiddling her fingers behind her back. There was a strange expression on her face. She was smiling, but didn't look terribly happy._

_Unsure with how to deal with something of that nature, he payed her no heed and sped up his pace. And that was the end of that._

He had absolutely no clue how to handle their conversations. Whenever they talked, it always seemed to end awkwardly, but neither of them would bring it up the next time and the outcome would repeat itself. He didn't doubt her fighting skills, nor the others', for a second, but it this mission was his own business. He would complete it himself, without any intervention.

Beginning to think of a way to get them to go back, he decided to watch the rain for a while longer.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Once the four of them had stationed themselves comfortably in room 124, Kiba began his explanation.

"There's somethin' going on back in Konoha," he said, brow furrowing slightly. The others exchanged worried glances, and he continued, "A few chuunin ran into two jounin from the Hidden Sound on the way back from a mission and were attacked. One of them ran to get reinforcements, but when he got back to the scene, there was nothin' left but a huge snake skin."

"People are starting to think the Hidden Sound is doing reconnaissance and looking to start a war with the Fire Country. Nobody really knows why, either, and that's why everybody's starting to get so worried. Like maybe one of our ninja did something to start this situation."

At that, an uneasy look circulated the room and nobody talked for a while after. Eventually, Hanabi tenatively asked, "So, you're not here because oneesan got worried about me?"

"Well," the rough-around-the-edges shinobi commented, "I'm pretty sure Hinata was a little worried. But she trusts you and Naruto, and she said something about getting a letter."

At the mention of his name, the blonde straightened up in his chair a little, as if snapping out of a daydream or just realising then that a discussion was going on. Both he and the Hyuuga leaning against the wall opposite him looked relieved at that piece of information.

Unforgetting of the matters at hand, Sakura inquired, "So, why are we getting called back, anyways?"

A shrug met her question. "Dunno. I overheard your Kakashi-sensei and Godaime saying something about an Oro-whatsit "being on the move again"."

The kunoichi didn't say anything back, but she was puzzled as to the nature of the whole string of events she had just heard about. The similarity of the encounter of Otogakure shinobi to theirs was alarming, but it still made no sense to call in all Konoha ninja on missions after two similar occurances, one of which hadn't even been reported yet. This "Oro" figure's name did seem somewhat familiar, like it had been mentioned in an old story, but held no revelance whatsoever to the withdrawal orders. The whole situation was rapidly becoming confusing.

_I shouldn't think about it_, she eventually resolved. _We'll just go back to the village, and get more information there. I should go tell Sasuke._

Thinking of the Uchiha brought another reality to light, however. She didn't know much about what had happened between him and his brother, barring the clan's massacre, but it was obvious how determined he was to get even. He wouldn't take kindly to returning on such short notice at all. For a moment she considered the means she had to persuade him, but they were not many. Even if he did refuse the withdrawal order and she was left with no other choice, a small part of her knew she couldn't bring herself to get in the way of his ambition.

But maybe that wouldn't be necessary. Standing up, Sakura saw Naruto already at the door, obviously with the same thing in mind as her.

oooooooooooooooooooo

_"Childish, isn't it?"_

_Sasuke looked up from the dirt road. Sakura had somehow gotten ahead of him again, and had turned completely around to talk to him this time. Traces of the vexing expression she had worn before still lingered on her face. _

_"Hm?" he replied intelligently. She was acting odd._

_She nudged the ground with her heel a few times, then turned slightly red. Stuttering at first, the answer came unsurely._

_"How I always call you Sasuke-kun. It sounds childish, doesn't it?"_

_He shrugged his shoulders, and stopped walking to converse properly. "I've heard it so much I hadn't really noticed."_

_"I see." A downcast look now clouded the jounin's features as she averted her vision. Definitely odd. He decided to pursue the matter._

_"Why?"_

_She looked up at him again, surprised. "Well," she said eventually. "I don't really know. I was just thinking."_

_He almost asked, "About what?", but decided against it. Things were already sufficiently awkward. _

_Just as he started down the path once more, he heard, "Is it okay if I just call you Sasuke from now on?"_

_That was probably one of the strangest questions he had ever been asked. Even so, he continued walking, deeming the discussion finished. He shrugged again as he passed her._

_A small smile crept on to Sakura's face as she followed behind him._

The door creaked open and Sasuke jumped, jolted from his reverie. In the doorway stood Naruto, then Sakura, followed by a befuddled looking Kiba and Hanabi. He stood, and was about to ask what was going on when something crashed through the thick window behind him, scattering glass on to the carpet in large shards. The familiar shape of a smoke bomb bounced and rolled for a foot before stopping dead, purple gas spilling out of two equally placed holes.

"Cover your face!" he ordered out of pure reflex, putting a gloved hand over his mouth and nose although having already inhaled some of the tear gas. His eyes watered and his throat burned, and he barely managed to fight back the choking fit that threatened. From the other side of the room, Kiba may as well have not listened to him with all the coughing and sneezing he was doing, but the others seemed relatively unharmed.

Taking a deep, muffled breath from behind his palm, Sasuke made the appropriate hand-seals as quickly as possible and concentrated on the centre of the room. He heard the remainder of the broken glass at his back shatter as a solid wave of sound pulsed in all directions from the space he'd focused on, dispelling the thick smoke. He took a step and his whole field of vision spun, head pounding behind his eyes. The floor seemed to move under his feet and he fought to stay upright, knees buckling under an unknown weight.

Confused exclamations and noises from the other side of the room confirmed that the others were as affected as he was. He had never chosen to use that technique for the number of years he'd known it, and now he knew precisely why he wouldn't ever again. It had rendered them completely compromised against whoever had thrown in the smoke bomb, he realized, trying to regain his balance. He closed his eyes in attempt to clear his senses.

A pale glow coaxed his eyelids open again, and there across from him was a steadily growing sphere of energy, concentrated to the point at which it was actually visible. At its origin sat Sakura, her hairline growing sleek with sweat.

He noticed that the glow was in fact not coming from her palms like a normal healing technique, but ran down the length of her arms in three long branches before dividing into many thread-like strings of chakra. They seemed to be controlled by her, and crisscrossed into a large circular shape. He noted, as one of the threads broke off and floated away, that such a technique probably required a huge ammount of concentration. The nature of it was still quite unknown to him, however.

After a moment, she spread her arms and appeared to be holding the luminescent sphere between her palms. Then suddenly it burst, scattering sparks of light all across the room, the tendrils following them closely like tails. One of them touched Sasuke's skin, and his dizziness vanished instantly. Naruto, Hanabi and Kiba stood, their symptoms cleared as well. But Sakura, suddenly overcome by some sort of head-rush, slumped over exhaustedly.

Kiba withdrew something small from a pouch that had been in his pocket and flicked it at her, and she brought up a slightly trembling hand to catch it. Recognition dawned on her face, and she gave him an appreciative look before swallowing the soldier pill. Akamaru yipped in response, poking his head out from the neck of Kiba's hooded shirt.

Naruto looked around the room, puzzled. "I don't get it," he stated. "Why haven't we been directly attacked yet?"

Sasuke was trying to figure that out himself. "Hanabi," he said, turning to the younger girl. "Could you check if there's anybody outside?"

She apprehended his question, and made a quick hand seal. Nobody spoke, and the only sound was the rain steadily pouring in through the broken window and beating down on the carpet.

"There's no-one on the _outside_ of the building," she eventually said bewilderedly, indicating past the wall. "But..."

Everyone in the room watched as she quietly made her way to the closed door. She peered at it for a moment, before wrenching it open by the handle and stepping brusquely aside. With a short squeal, a woman fell forewards on to the floor, suddenly deprived of that which had supported her weight as she leaned against it, listening in on previous happenings.

Before anyone could start menacingly towards her, she jumped up, revealing herself to be the woman from the counter earlier in the evening.

"I can explain!" she exclaimed, waving her hands feverently. "Don't hurt me!"

Sasuke noted one of his short swords lying on the table behind him, just in case. "We're listening," he said impatiently. It was just one thing after another.

The woman began wringing her hands nervously, and glanced around the room. "I..." She paused, swallowed, and began anew. "I was just making a short check of the rooms, and I heard glass shatter, s-so I just, you know..."

"Eavesdropped?" Kiba suggested sardonically, raising an eyebrow. Akamaru barked in agreement.

The woman flushed. "Look! We never get any interesting customers here, just the same old guys who don't want to be hassled by their wives. Nobody even uses the rooms."

"So you decided to spy on us?" Sakura inquired, regarding her suspiciously. There was something very off about this woman. She couldn't seem to get her facts straight.

"W-well, I--"

Her answer was cut off by a hideous shrieking noise. It was far from human, and sent chills crawling down the ninjas' spines. It grated at their ears like nails on a chalkboard, reverberating in their minds.

And then it sounded again. Louder, this time. Closer. Sasuke dove for his sword as the others assumed fighting positions, knowing fully that whatever was capable of making such a cry was by no means docile.

The raven-haired ANBU captain had just unsheathed his blade and tossed the sabbard to the side, when a shadowy figure darted into the room through the window. Hanabi was the first to reach it, and instantly recognizing human movements, thrust her palm harshly towards where its face would surely be. The assailant proved to be very much human and staggered back ungracefully, howling in pain. He dropped to the floor, writhing, and a thick, dark liquid that could only be blood seeped from the cloth mask covering his face.

Sakura, nearest to the shaken youth, noticed the tight leather gloves on her hands. Her gaze was answered with a short explanation.

"Training," Hanabi recited, obviously accustomed to being questioned on the topic. "If I can transfer chakra smoothly through the gloves without breaking them, my precision and capacity should increase."

Getting more and more irritated by the second, Sasuke sharply faced the both of them. "This is no time for--"

The wall in front of him groaned and began to crack, long marks snaking up to the roof and branching off. Small chips of plaster began to fall out. A tremor shook the room, and then another.

"Get out of the way!"

His warning had barely been issued when the wall crumbled completely, pieces of the roof falling away with it. He barely caught sight of a scaled muzzle drawing back, before it vanished into the swirling dust clouds.

"There's another snake," he half-whispered, so not to draw its attention. Naruto, Sakura and Hanabi exchanged a grim look, while Kiba could only glance repproachfully between the three of them.

And then another ear-splitting shriek echoed all through the room, and they knew where it had come from. The sleek form of the anaconda surged into the remainder of their previous lodging, maw opened sickeningly wide to reveal foot-long fangs. It lunged for Naruto, who dove out of the way and quickly drew a kunai from its pouch. The snake hurtled itself towards him again, hissing viciously, and he feinted to the right to drag the tip of the small weapon across its side. The blonde's arm lurched away, and the ineffectual blade flew from his grasp.

"Normal weapons won't work!" he shouted, leaping out of the way once again and nearly crashing backwards into a bed.

Sakura threw a wild punch at the serpent and it twisted away, turning around and launching itself back at her. She threw all her weight to the side and barely managed to evade it, walking into the corner of a desk. Gritting her teeth, she cried frustratedly, "There's not enough room in here!"

"Then _make _room!" Kiba hollered back, taking a swipe at the snake's hide. His claws managed to penetrate it and the serpent turned towards him, hissing furiously.

"That doesn't even make _sense_!" came the heated reply.

"Stop arguing and concentrate on the fight!" Sasuke growled, losing the last of his patience. He plunged his sword between two monstrous scales, blood erupting from the wound, and hastily withdrew it as the anaconda lunged at him to dive out of its fangs' reach.

Hanabi's attack came next. She sidestepped a swipe from the serpent's tail and rushed after it, drawing her elbow back behind her. She skidded to a halt just as the beast turned its head to behold her, and pitched forwards with all her might to land a crushing blow on the side of its face.

The snake twisted and roiled madly, thrashing around and dislodging every piece of furniture in its long reach. Naruto took the chance and focused the energy to his palm, watching it blossom into an ever-growing sphere of blue light. It continued to grow like a balloon being inflated, and then aiming carefully, he heaved it straight towards the snake's head.

The anaconda caught the full brunt of the attack, and froze. It was deathly still, and nothing seemed to happen until its slim pupils contracted to the size of sheets of paper. Then it gave one last bloodcurdling shriek, and the back of its spear-like head literally exploded. Blood, brains, and other ghastly fluids and components sprayed on to the floor and out into the rain.

The five of them barely had time to turn away in disgust when numerous darkly-clad ninja appeared in a circle around the weary group. They wasted no time in attacking, and the night air was filled with sounds of weapons clanging.

Sasuke ducked under a well-aimed stab and brought his elbow up into a man's windpipe, eyes dyed crimson as twin Sharingan spun. He slashed at another on-coming shinobi, and his sword met with cold metal. Sparks flew as he dragged the blade from the spiked arm-guard just in time to step away from another lunge, guiding the bloodstained blade under his assailant's arm and across its chest. He dispatched another enemy with a quick slash across the neck, and then another with a series of shallow stabs.

He felt a presence behind him and whirled around, only to see the ninja fall into a heap. Sakura drew away and placed a roundhouse kick into the face of another enemy, ducking under a wild swing and driving her fist into his chest. The others were having no problems either, making quick work of the remaining shinobi. Soon, only bodies of the assailants littered the ruined carpet.

Sasuke was in the process of considering the next course of action when he felt the cold edge of a knife pressed up against his throat. He froze, heart hammering. He hadn't even noticed anyone was there until it was too late. About the only person who could still catch him off-guard in such a manner was Kakashi.

"It's terribly fun to act, Sasuke-kun," a voice whispered tauntingly in his ear. The voice was that of a woman's. He tried to move, but his limbs wouldn't budge. The others seemed to have been caught in a similar stasis, standing perfectly still as if frozen in time.

He heard a delighted giggle from behind him, and a pale hand hovered next to his cheek. Delicate fingers reached out and traced the length of the cut made earlier that day.

"_Don't touch me,_" he snarled, rage boiling inside of him. He fought desperately to swing his arm around and chop off the offending hand, but still it stayed reluctantly glued to his side.

There was another infuriating laugh, this time hearty and full-throated.

"You have quite the nasty temper, Sasuke-kun," the voice said, still giggling as it spoke. The speaker drew close behind him again, whispering.

"Still... I want _you_."

Sasuke had no time to react as what could only be fangs bore deep into his lower neck, piercing the skin and drawing blood. An enormous chill passed through his body.

And then everything started moving again.

White-hot pain spread through him like wildfire, and he dropped to his knees. Shaking uncontrollably, he broke out in a cold sweat, teeth beginning to chatter as his body tried to figure out what was happening to it. Clutching the ground, his back arched. And the waves of agony came crashing against him again and again, never showing a sign of stopping. A cry ripped itself from his raw throat.

He began to lose any sense of self as the mind-numbing pain became him, flooding his veins and clouding his vision. A small part of him could faintly hear footsteps, then someone distantly calling his name as everything faded to white.

(( Yeah. I still suck pretty bad at battle scenes, but it's an area I know I'll improve in.

That being said, why is Sasuke so... I dunno, rape-able? XDDDD ))


	5. CHAPTER 4: MEMORY

(( Oh jeez. I just learned at the dinner table that my dad read the first two pages of this chapter when he was transferring them off of his computer for me. You can only imagine how red I turned.

Anyways, he suggested that I get an editor. Gee. Thanks, dad. My point being, if anyone with noted spelling and grammar skills is interested in the position, just say so in your review. ))

CHAPTER 4: MEMORY

Kakashi pressed onwards through the rain, wet strands of his pale hair sticking wetly to his masked face before being blown away by the fierce winds. It was pitch black outside, and he kept to the muddy ground in speed's best interests; if what he had heard earlier was correct, there was little time. Pak-kun and the others weren't with him. As sharp as their noses were, nature at its worst would have long washed away the scents of his quarries.

He had every reason to worry for his students' safety. As skilled as the three of them were, they were no match for the danger that awaited them, even accompanied by two others. With such a fabled and feared enemy on the loose, chaos would befall the Fire Country once more if he wasn't stopped. There was no secret as to his motives.

_I should have known better_, the former ANBU captain berated himself, increasing the strength of his strides.

He had been concerned for Sasuke. Even after rising in the ranks of Konoha's elite ninja, the brooding prodigy showed no signs of forgetting the revenge he had vowed so long ago. As much as Kakashi liked to think his student could let the past go, he knew otherwise. Allowing him to finally fulfill that oath had seemed the best course of action nearly twenty-four hours ago, but now he saw what a mistake it had been. One of the biggest mistakes he had ever made.

He prayed he would make it in time to fix that mistake as he hurried through the underbrush. Although thick, leafy branches hung over the rough path he took, rain fell through like there was nothing to block its descent at all. He remembered a time at which the water dripping into his eyes would have bothered him greatly. But after many years of enduring worse conditions, the weather hardly concerned him anymore.

The same could not be said for the small animal off the side of the road, huddled shivering beneath a sopping bush. Recognizing the creature, Kakashi stopped and stooped by it. It shook the rain having gathered on its white hindquarters off, the ruffle in its fur passing along its small body to the scruff of its neck. It shook its head in turn, brown-tipped ears flopping as the tiny dog tried in vain to keep itself dry.

Akamaru stood and sniffed the Jounin's hand in a gesture of greeting. He normally never condoned to such actions with his dogs, and they normally never considered them in the first place. They were more comrades than best friends, or even companions, as per ninja tradition. This pup was too young to know, and his owner too kind.

Even so, it was remarkable what aptitude he showed when sniffing out an opponent, or ally's chakra, given the sheltered circumstances of his upbringing. It was undoubtedly the only way he could have found him, what with the pouring rain. But now was no time for pondering.

"Where are they?" Kakashi asked, resuming both business and personal concern.

Akamaru barked, then bounded off into the thick woods.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Hanabi blinked the loose strands of hair from her eyes, arms straining with the weight she carried. Even with her Byakugan activated, it was nearly impossible to see through the thick storm that beat through the shelter of the trees and on to the exhausted, battle-worn travelers. All-seeing eyes glanced down at the comatose being suspended between her and Kiba, penetrating his flesh. His heartbeat was weak and uneven, and as a result his skin had taken on a deathly pallor visible even through the suffocating darkness of the night.

Her luminous eyes wandered. With his back turned to her, the full brunt of her sister's energetic teammate's injuries could not be seen. But she had seen him bleed. With little time and resources, the wounds had simply been disinfected and bandaged before they had continued in their pressed search for safety and shelter.

A small distance beyond him was Sakura. Draped over her back was Naruto, lifeless and unmoving as his friend and rival. From what Hanabi could see, his vital signs were normal. But a festering mass of chakra hovered thickly in his navel area, twisting around nearby veins and arteries and snaking its way through his entire body. The same occurred in Sasuke, the phenomenon originating in the strange mark on his neckthat had bled into existance like a spilled blot of ink.

Well versed in the Hyuuga style, Hanabi knew precisely how to insert chakra forcibly into another. Through her palm and fingertips, the human body was literally her plaything. But although perfectly capable of inflicting damage on the organs of her target, the harmful energy she sent into them never stayed for long. How such large amounts of chakra lingered inside and seemed to infect two of Konoha's most accomplished ninja completely escaped her. Such an ability was fearsome, and far beyond the scope of her power.

Sakura stopped for a moment, shifted her weight, and continued walking. While she kept a consistent pace, it was evident how exhausted the young woman had quickly become. With three members of the team gravely injured, she had no choice but to take on the leadership role, and the pressure hadn't taken to her kindly. Though she had admirable intelligence and resolve, the kunoichi was used to acting as support on all of her missions, supplying strength and knowing when it was needed.

She was excellent at thinking on the spot, Hanabi knew. But taking responsibility of the lives of four others was not something she could do successfully. And the youth didn't doubt the immense burden of leading many more than oneself; she herself had simply followed orders for a great part of her life. She had been expected to eventually lead the Hyuuga family for an amount of time, but her sister had finally stepped up to the plate and proven more fitting for such an important job. But it was no big disappointment, as she preffered to be on the sidelines, wheras Sakura was undoubtedly used to being put there instead of backing down.

They continued on through the forest for an immeasurable amount of time. It grew no darker, no lighter, no less wet, and no more muddy. And all the while, nobody spoke.

Then suddenly, Kiba turned his head warily.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, hearing the footfalls stop behind her.

"I think..." Kiba started, looking perplexed. "... I just smelled Akamaru."

"But isn't he with you?"

A shake of the head. "I sent him off a while ago to look for help."

"Oh..." Sakura sighed somewhat dejectly. She added quietly, averting her gaze out of habit, "Good thinking."

"Someone's coming," Hanabi interjected, peering through the wind and rain.

"Is it an enemy?"

"I'm not sure. It's too dark to tell."

"We should prepare ourselves, then." Sakura slid Naruto off of her back and layed him down on the ground, instructing the other two to follow suite with their burden. She drew a small knife from her back pouch and held it at the ready.

Several minutes passed, and nothing happened. The three ninja stood waiting, staring into the woods as if transfixed, expecting another Hidden Sound shinobi to come bursting from the wet leaves with the intent to kill.

And eventually, someone did step from the dark foliage.

"Akamaru!" Kiba exclaimed surprisedly, as a white shape came leaping towards him. He caught the small dog in his hands and allowed him to climb on to his shoulder. At first, he scrambled for purchase on the wet clothing, but Akamaru was quickly able to sit comfortably like he had done so many times. Once he was settled, he sniffed at the long mark running up the side of his friend's face, then down at the numerous bandages wrapped tightly around his torso, beginning to whine softly.

The rugged man winced, as if reminded of his injuries. "I'm fine," he replied, putting one hand in his pocket and patting his companion briefly on the head with the other.

A small ways away, Hatake Kakashi surveyed the scene in front of him. Behind Kiba, who had obviously been wounded, lay two of his students in a form of stasis. Resignation flooded his veins as he realized he had been too late after all.

The third of his pupils had nearly dropped to her knees in relief, and strode towards him. She was soaking wet and covered in bruises, but yet the most alarming feature was her hair. When he had seen her last, it had been long and groomed for a special occasion, but a moment ago he almost hadn't recognized her because of it.

While identical to the evening before in colour, it had been hacked mercilessly short and uneven. The locks in front of her ears were of different lengths, and stray hairs longer than the rest fell down on to her shoulders and back. He didn't think for a second that this change had been of her own accord.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked, casting a regretful glance at the prone forms of Naruto and Sasuke. The outcome was already apparent, but he could only base his next move off of the details he was to recieve.

Sakura followed his gaze for a quick second, then trained her eyes slightly to the right. "Earlier today," she said, "we were attacked by a ninja from the Hidden Sound. We defeated him and went to an inn for the night, but we were attacked again by a giant snake and many more ninja."

"This all happened without much incident, but when we were about to leave..." She trailed off, trying to remember. "It was odd. I'm not sure what happened, but everything seemed to freeze and then Sasuke suddenly got a strange mark on his neck and collapsed."

Kakashi was thrown momentarily at what she said. It wasn't as if he was surprised at the events she described; he had known that to be what had happened as soon as he layed eyes on the Uchiha prodigy. But rather it was the absence of a certain suffix that was normally said at the end of his name. He wished to inquire as to her suddain change in speech, but that was another matter for another time. He listened further as she continued to explain.

"There was a woman from the bar on the main floor behind him. She conjured a ball of oddly coloured fire in her hand, and let it burn her skin right off. And there was an entirely different person underneath. He had long hair and pale skin, and eyes like a snake's."

"It happened so fast... He used some manner of paralasis technique on all of us, but Naruto managed to dispell it. The man grabbed him and held him in place with a long tongue, then used a strange seal on him. He fainted right after that. Kiba bit himself and attacked then, but the man drew a sword right from his mouth and cut him across the chest a few times. Hanabi tried to attack too, but she ended up being thrown against the wall."

"I didn't even have time to react before he was behind me, and..."

Sakura's voice had begun to break. She looked desperately up at the sky, eyebrows creasing, and Kakashi could have sworn he had seen her carefully wipe stray tears from the corners of her eyes. His stomach churned. Had she been raped?

"He held my by the hair," she spat, utter contempt suddenly dripping from her words, "and do you know what he said? He told me, 'It would do you great good if I killed all four of your friends right here, right in front of you', like I was some weak thing that needed to toughen up. So I cut my hair, and stabbed him in the hand."

"And the bastard laughed! He grabbed me by the throat and tossed me against the wall like some piece of trash, and said, 'But that's not why I came here'. I remember every word!"

Still seething, Sakura looked angrily at her feet. She took a few furious breaths, then said in a smaller voice, "And then he left. I thought more ninja would come and attack us, so I tried to get everyone to shelter as quickly as possible without carefully looking at their injuries. Now we're in the middle of nowhere, and the only person we've seen since then is you, Kakashi-sensei. I've made a mistake."

"That makes two of us," he would have liked to say. Instead, he offered what comfort he had.

"There's nothing we can do about it now. The best course of action is to get everybody indoors and safe, and I know a town a few hours' distance from here."

Sakura nodded, and started towards Naruto and Sasuke.

Kakashi stopped her, and said, "You're tired. I'll get one of them." After a moment, he added, "If that is all, do you two have any comments to make?"

Kiba and Hanabi, who had been standing nearby the entire time, had the decency to look embarassed. The former shrugged and turned away, whilst the latter simply replied, "I've always been better at listening to conversations than having them."

As Kakashi hiked Sasuke up on to his back, the two of them reassumed their positions in carrying the other. It was inconvenient from a tactical standpoint to only have one tired kunoichi able to respond immediately to an attack, but it was a matter of ability. Kiba was far too weary, although he tried his best not to look it, to carry such a weight, and Hanabi was built too small to carry a full grown man. She was amazed that Sakura had been able to for such a long time.

Kakashi immediately took to the front of the group as they set out again, eventually deciding that a direct route to their destination would be best, while not the safest option. He doubted they would run into anymore enemies at this point, however. Sakura happily fell to the back, content with carrying the bags the others seemed to have forsaken.

oooooooooooooooooooo

At first, everything was dark and silent. He couldn't move nor speak. He knew not whether his eyes were open or closed, or if he was sitting or standing or laying down or simply floating through empty space. Was he moving? He didn't know. He didn't know where he was, what he was, who he was, what he had seen, heard, felt, touched or been touched by.

And then suddenly he was falling, and there was noise and colour and words and feelings. Everything he had ever experienced or known or seen or heard or felt swirled around and over and under and into him, and he was full. He looked down and plunged into cold, black water, and feeling bled and bubbled from his lungs as air towards the surface, where it would never be seen again. He fell further and further, closer and closer to the bottom.

He touched the water's surface. Ripples spread from his feet, from which sprung grass and sky and clouds. Sasuke looked around. He stood in the precise middle of a vast field, and tall grass reached up to his waist. Each blade stood perfectly erect and was exactly the same length and thickness and colour, a pasty gray. Dark, slate-coloured clouds hung completely still in the pale sky, suspended by thick wires that stretched to above the world itself.

A chilly wind blew through the field, and he shivered. But nothing else moved. Unsure of how to take all the oddities presenting themselves before him, he stole a glance behind him. Only more grass met his eyes, stretching on for miles and miles. Feeling he was getting nowhere quickly, he turned to take a step and nearly bumped into something.

There was a tall house in front of him, so close that if he moved more than a foot he would walk right into it. Growing uneasy, he turned around again only to come face to face with the same brick wall he had been faced with not seconds ago. A quick glance to the right, and sure enough, there was the house. Sighing, he reached for the handle and pulled the door open.

More brick lay behind the doorframe. Sasuke frowned, beginning to get frustrated. He took a step back to get a better look at the house so he could find another way in, and found himself somehwere completely different from where he had just been.

He stood at the beginning of a long corridor, furnished in the grays and browns that seemed so prominent in whatever strange world he was in. Numerous doors extended down both sides of the hallway, but after his encounter moments ago, he decided against opening any of them. So he started to walk. Further and further down the corridor, the doors began to grow smaller. With every step he took, they became littler and littler until they were completely gone.

A new section of the hallway began, and when he stepped into it, he heard a note being played on a piano somewhere far off. It repeated itself again and again like a pulse, never differing in length or volume. While walking down this particular part of the hall, he started to notice something strange. Every once in a while, a part of the wall that didn't match the rest would appear. Its wallpaper was a different pattern, and there would usually be a hall-table with an empty vase or basin jutting out into the corridor. Like parts of another house had randomly been taken out and put into this one.

After a while, Sasuke found his footsteps falling into rhythm with the endless chords echoing throughout the hall. At this point, other corridors had begun branching out from the one he roamed. But still he went forwards; the corridors were much too small for him to fit into, and were more resemblant to cracks in the wall.

But then an abnormally wide one jumped out at him. He stopped walking to look at it, and the piano died out completely. The entrance looked wide enough for him to fit through. He turned sideways and took a step into it, his palm flattening against the wall. But when he moved to bring his other foot in as well, the corridor suddenly narrowed considerably and he had to leap out to avoid being crushed.

He stared at disbelief in the incredibly thin crevace that now stood before him, taking barely an inch of the wall's space. He wished desperately to try and pry what had once been a corridor apart again with his own two hands, but knew the futility of hoping when such a task was beyond human capability. He turned to continue down the main hall, but saw something else. There was now a wall in front of him, with a steel door.

Sasuke looked behind him, only to see the same. Seeing that there was no other choice, he twisted the handle and decided that whoever had created the world he was in had an increasingly sick sense of humor.

oooooooooooooooooooo

It must have been three in the morning when Dairei Jin was awoken from his sleep by a knock at the door. Who in their right mind would be awake at that hour, and in that weather? Nevertheless, he reluctantly slid from under the sheets and smoothed his ruffled hair before throwing on a housecoat. It was his duty as headman to answer any concerns of the village, or its visitors, no matter what the circumstances.

He flicked on the hallway light as he stepped up to the door, and peered through the window on the side to see who it was that had disturbed him. He leaped back with a surprised smile and hastily slid the door open.

"It's been too long, Kakashi-dono." He caught a glimpse of the young man sprawled over his old accomplice's back, and of the exhausted-looking ninja behind him. It didn't take ten years of business experience for him to see that something was amiss. "May I ask what brings you to Fuuma no Sato?"

"I would explain," the silver-haired man said, "but we're in desperate need of a hotel and a hospital. I apologize for the trouble." He gave Jin an earnest look from his uncovered eye.

"I see. I'll make reservations right away." The headman was half-way through the door to his study before he turned to face the small group again. "Come in, before you catch cold." They greatfully obliged and begun to slide their sandals off, but before the door had been closed again, he noticed another individual suspended between the boy with white eyes and the man with the dog on his shoulder. "You can put those two in the guest room."

Once he had disappeared, Sakura asked, "Who was that? You seem to know each other."

"Dairei Jin," Kakashi answered. "The headman of this village. I worked with him for a while ten years ago." He stepped up into the hallway, beckoning for the others to follow.

They went past the study, then to the right as the hall stopped and divided at the end. Just around the corner was a large enough room, with the same beautiful wooden floors and panneled walls as the rest of the house. Hanabi felt embarassed for tracking muddy water all the way through it.

As if perfectly acquainted with the dwelling, Kakashi strode to the closet and withdrew a folded futon, which he held under his arm before setting it up on the floor. He leaned over and let Sasuke slide gently on to it. Kiba and Hanabi padded over as well, and carefully set Naruto down beside him. Sakura hesitated for a moment, before putting the numerous traveling bags she carried beside them.

As they passed the study again, Jin stuck his head out and covered the phone he held with a hand. "Make yourselves at home in the living room," he said, before sliding the door shut and resuming a heated discussion. "I don't _care _if you're booked, Yamada! There are six people here, and..."

Kakashi led them to the left of the entryway, where there was a large room. In the centre there was a low table, underneath which were stacked many thin cushions for sitting. An enormous window took up most of one of the walls, and there was a sliding door opposite it that lead to the kitchen, from what could be seen through the rice-paper.

Kiba contentedly sat down in one of the corners and leant into the crook where the two walls met, closing his eyes. Akamaru curled up beside him. Hanabi sat on her knees in front of the table after withdrawing one of the cushions, and made do with pretending to stare interestedly at the flower arrangement in front of her. And Kakashi stood stationary at the window, either lost in the rain that continued to pour outside or all that had recently happened.

Sakura was unsure of what to do. Everyone looked to be too tired or toodeep in thought for her to try and start a conversation with them, and knew that even if she attempted to it would end quickly. So she said more to the room than its inhabitants, "I'm going to check on the other two," and started back the way she had came, unsurprised that no-one answered.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Sasuke looked around, puzzled. It was pitch black again. He glanced down at his palms to see that they were completely visible, as was the rest of him. His skin and clothes glowed palely, like those of a ghost's. Shrugging it off as another one of the many side effects of this world, he took an experimental step. He couldn't have been standing if there was nothing there to stand on, even if he couldn't see it.

Sure enough, his feet met something that felt like a hardwood floor. Confident that whatever it was he was standing on wasn't about to give away beneath him, he continued in what direction he hoped was straight. Although the place felt safe, wandering around in circles with zero visibility wouldn't get him to wherever he was supposed to be going.

He stopped. What was he doing? He was acting like there was purpose to where he was headed. All he had been doing for God knows how long was following a hunch that there was something waiting at the end of the invisible path he followed. The only thing he had accomplished was acting like an idiot. Just acting for all this time.

As soon as he had such thoughts, something hard crashed into his nose and he fell backwards off his feet. While picking himself up from the floor, Sasuke thought of how hard Naruto would be laughing if he could see him blundering around like this. He bittery brought his hands in front of him to feel smooth wood. It moved forewards slightly under the pressure, and he came to the conclusion that there was another door before him.

He sighed. As much as he resented to admit it, it would be extremely pointless if he were to go back to wherever he had started at this point. So he pushed the door open, and nothing changed. He stood in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but darkness stretching out on all sides.

Then another something came plowing into him, and he had to step back several times to avoid falling over again. Growing angry, he strode forewards and furiously pushed the second door open, expecting to be faced with more of the same.

Instead, there lay a scene that had been etched into his mind like permanent graffiti ever since it had happened.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Sakura was suddenly jolted from her light sleep by a small noise. Her eyes opened slowly and blearily, but she quickly found the source. While he had been in a nearly deathlike state before, Sasuke's breaths now came audibly and in short, occasional gasps. His brow had furrowed in his fitful sleep, and though it could have just been lingering raindrops from outside, it looked as if a feverish sweat had begun to break out on his face. His skin was flushed. And beside him, Naruto looked as peaceful as if he was simply taking a nap.

She reached out and put the back of her palm on his forehead, but surprisedly drew it back. He was extremely warm. Beginning to panic, she fumbled the seals for a basic healing technique and held her hands over him. As soon as they began to glow, a sudden wave of dizziness washed over her. Her eyelids began to grow heavy and she had trouble staying upright, and after a moment she would have pitched over backwards if someone hadn't caught her by the shoulders.

"There's no need to overexert yourself if there's nothing that can be done," Kakashi said as she embarassedly straightened herself up again.

"Has something happened?" Sakura asked, rubbing her eyes to clear her senses.

"Jin managed to get you and Hanabi a room at the hotel," he explained, gathering Sasuke up off the futon again.

"But what about...?"

"Kiba, Naruto and Sasuke have a spot at the clinic for the night. Don't worry," he added, noting her concerned look. "Someone will be keeping an eye on all of them."

"What about you?"

"Jin and I have some catching up to do. There's business that needs immediate attention."

"I see." Eyes downcast, Sakura gathered herself from the floor. She lifted the straps of numerous travelling bags over her head and on to her shoulder.

Kakashi stifled a sigh, and said, "You'll find out eventually. But it's late, or rather, early."

By this time, Kiba and Hanabi had entered the room and lifted Naruto from the thin mattress.

"Let's go, then. The clinic is nearer, so we'll go there first."

Jin bade them farewell as they left his home and stepped on to the wet street, quickly becoming lost in the flurry of raindrops. It was a short walk, but a wet one; in five minutes, they became as wet as they had been upon entering the village an hour ago after being out in the horrid weather for many times as long.

The clinic was a small building, and low to the ground. And in the traditional style that seemed to be so common in this small town, the tiled roof that hung over the entrance gave a good foot or so for them to attempt at drying off before entering. An elderly man sat awake at the reception desk, and peered at them through small spectacles before leaving his seat.

"I was told to expect some ninja a short while ago, and here they are. This way, please." Without waiting for anyone to reply, he started further into the building.

Naruto and Sasuke were put in similar rooms, both very close to each other. While the clinic appeared small, it was actually much larger and had a dozen or so rooms with a bed and window. Sakura left Naruto and Sasuke's bags on the chairs in their respective rooms.

After this was done, Kiba turned to leave only to be stopped by Kakashi.

"Look," he said, raising an eyebrow in annoyance. "I'm fine."

"Don't argue," came the reply, "unless you want to bleed to death overnight." The speaker glanced pointedly at the blood beginning to seep through the worn bandages Kiba sported.

He paled considerably at such a sight, and followed the old man down the hallway without a word.

From the clinic, the trip to the hotel was but a minute or two long. But by looking at the tired faces of the two young woman that arrived there when they stepped up to the counter, one could have easily guessed they had been outside for hours.

"Haruno Sakura and Hyuuga Hanabi, am I right?" The girl at the counter asked, as the man who had escorted them there went out into the rain again. They looked repproachful; their last encounter with a young lady at the entrance to an inn had ended disasterously. But eventually they consented.

"You've been expected. Your room has been prepared for you," she said, coming from behind the entrance desk. "It's right this way."

Feet heavy, they followed her down the corridor to where their room was, beginning to grow tired of the same old-fashioned style of dwelling. They eventually stood in front of a sliding door, two paper lamps on either side, which the hotel clerk opened for them before rushing off again. And it was a nice enough room. The futons were already set up, with fresh pillows and sheets. But it was just more of the same, and it was too early in the morning for anyone to have a relatively good opinion of anything.

Sakura would have liked very much to simply fall on to her futon with her soaked clothes on, and fall asleep right away. But before she could do so, Hanabi spoke up tenatively.

"Um... I was just wondering, Sakura-san," she said with a hint of nervousness, "if, since your hair is already wet, I could try and even it out for you."

The kunoichi blinked, surprised. She had completely forgotten about the pink mess on her head. In any case, she would eventually have to fix it herself anyways, or else go around looking ridiculous to the general public.

"I'd really appreciate it," she answered with an apologetic smile, and sat down cross-legged on her futon.

Hanabi drew a kunai from its holster and stationed herself behind her, speculating what to do for a moment before beginning to cut. Sakura allowed herself to drift off, falling in and out of a trance-like state of sleep. The words of the snake-like man continued to haunt her, pushing her back from the beckoning frontier of dreams every time she strayed closer to it.

And then the young Hyuuga stood, walked around to the front, and continued her work. "You know," she attempted to joke after a while. "You did a very good job, considering the circumstances."

Her hand flew to her mouth almost immediately afterwards. "I'm so sorry!" she cried, appalled at what she had said.

"It's fine," Sakura assured her, wincing inwardly. It had been a good effort.

There was silence for a while more, before she noticed the speedy progression at which her hair was being trimmed. "Where did you become so good at this?"

Hanabi looked mildly surprised before answering. "When I was younger, I used to cut the hair of my dolls when I was bored."

"I made clothes for mine," Sakura replied with a small laugh. "But I'm afraid most of my talent for sewing has left me since then."

She recieved a short giggle in return, before Hanabi drew back, finished. She handed her the kunai for her to see herself in, before standing and beginning to gather the severed hair from the floor.

Sakura marveled at the reflection on the kunai's multiple smooth facets. While her hair had once been able to reach the small of her back easily, it now framed her face in wet streaks. She turned her head, and saw that it was the shortest at the back, just covering the base of her head. It became longer in a slant that eventually reached the strands in the front. Another thing she hadn't noticed before was that there were a few bangs swept across the sides of her forehead.

"You must have had a lot of dolls," she said, aghast.

Hanabi just smiled, and replied, "Or I was just bored a lot. It will look a lot better when it's dry."

With that, she flicked off the lamp in the corner. Sakura handed her the small knife, which she put away in her small sack. And the two of them curled up underneath their covers, in much better moods than a few minutes before.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Sasuke lowered his gaze to his feet, away from the garish sight before him. "I don't want to see this again," he muttered, hoping for the bad memory to simply disappear and leave him at peace.

A shadow suddenly appeared in the moonlit impression the window created, and he reluctantly looked up. A younger version of himself stood across from his parents' bodies, all dressed in black like the grim reaper of his past.

"You weren't strong enough," he wept, sobs hiccuping from his throat. Tears fell freely from his face and into the blood at his bare feet.

Sasuke shuddered angrily, gritting his teeth. "What?" he asked, voice dangerously low.

"You weren't strong enough," the phantom repeated, closing his eyes in grief. "If you had been stronger..."

"Even then, what makes you think I could have stopped all this from happening!" He gestured to the room, eyes narrowed as he shouted. "What makes you think anything could have been done to prevent this!"

"Stronger... If only you... Only..." The phantom echoed again and again, growing more and more quiet with each word he repeated. "... Hadn't been acting..."

"Answer me!"

"_Acting..." _the image of the young boy suddenly sneered, lips curling into a menacing smirk. He reached up to clutch the skin over one of his eyes. Sasuke's fury suddenly turned to fearful bewilderment as he tore the skin from his face. Underneath was an eye. It was yellow and slitted, like that of a snake's.

"You've simply been acting all this time," the boy said, grinning wickedly. His voice cracked, and aged several decades as he continued. "You desire the true strength you've been pretending to have. And I can give it to you."

In the darkness of the early morning, two crimson eyes snapped open. For outside the town's limits, an almost identical pair lay watching and waiting.

(( Don'tcha just love those cliffhangers? ))


	6. CHAPTER 5: CONFRONTATION

((Uh-huh, so here's the finished product. This chapter is still shorter than all the others, sort of because I changed my mind at the last second about how to end it. The few who read this will probably be disappointed with the beginning to the next chapter too, but I feel the constant need to switch between scenes, as you'll see if you read "Whatsherface". Honestly, if I divided it into chapters based on scene-breaks, there would be twenty.

Anyways, that's not the point. I've kept you long enough, so go ahead and read the ending.))

CHAPTER 5: CONFRONTATION

For the second time that miserable, early, rainySeptember morning, Kakashi stepped into the foyer of a man he had met under dire circumstances and now seeked council with in a similar situation. Dripping wet once more, he noted that the muddy water from an hour prior to his current state of entry had been mopped away and slightly regretted the fact that he would dirty the floor again in a moment's time.

Jin stepped around the hallway corner, looking much more awake and presentable than he had when approached by tired guests earlier that morning. He beckoned silently for his lone visitor to follow him to the living area and the somber man obliged, sliding out of his soaked shoes and stepping on to the raised wooden floor only to descend a moment later into the room on his right.

((A/N: Yes, I quite like my run-on sentences. Bear with me until the flow of ideas gets stronger, mm?))

The two sat quietly on the flat cushions placed on either side of the low table, and went without a word for a while longer. After a quick breath akin to laughter, Jin prompted almost sardonically, "I don't suppose I need to ask if the situation is urgent or not."

"I apologize in advance for the trouble I've brought to your village," Kakashi replied earnestly, "but I cannot stress enough how bad this situation is."

Intrigued in what could only be a morbid fashion, the headman waited eagerly, if not anxiously for further elaboration.

"You're aware of the sentries from the Hidden Sound that have been scouring the area recently, are you not?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Up until tonight, they were searching for a certain Uchiha Sasuke (The dark-haired prodigy of the two unconscious men, Jin recalled.), and I'm certain that if things had not unfolded the way they have, they would have eventually infiltrated Konoha."

((A/N: Oi, now brackets inside dialogue? What am I thinking?))

"And for what purpose?"

"The time has come for Orochimaru to find a new host body, and I'm afraid he's had his sights set on Sasuke ever since that failed attempt ten years ago."

Jin knew of the events of which Kakashi spoke. In fact, they were the only reason he was of such high standing where he lived. Fuuma no Sato had once been but a simple frontier village, that had made the best of commerce between Konoha and the Hidden Sand and eventually begun to prosper quite nicely. It was just inside the Fire Country and thus a short distance away from the Hidden Sound, making it perfect for running reconnaisance at the time of the village's founding. And that's just what it had been tasked to do, after a successful coup-d'etat had been executed by none other than the Third Hokage's demonic student.

Orochimaru had had a pupil of his own, until he had finally cut all ties with Konoha and sworn vengeance on his place of birth. The young woman had been cursed with a mark on her neck that had quickly faded away, but upon her teacher's disasterous return it had begun causing her great pain and reappeared. If it were not for the fact that his arms had been greatly damaged in his titanic battle with the Third, Orochimaru would have surely hunted down the woman to which he had taught most all of his forbidden techniques and claimed her body as the golem into which he would force his immortal soul.

Ten years after the catastrophe that had nearly thrown the Fire Country back into the dissaray from which it had been born, war was on the horizon, and only because of the selfish ambitions of the most dangerous loose cannon the nation had ever seen. Jin recalled catching a glimpse of an inky black marking at the base of an unconscious Uchiha Sasuke's neck, and knew without asking that it was the same as that of the lady Chuunin examiner from Konoha. Now that he he had already planted his seed of destruction, nothing would stop Orochimaru in the pursuit of his future host.

Signs of this disturbing realization began to show on Jin's aging face. He asked, growing more and more worried by the second, "Is there nothing we can do to stop him?"

"Until we get more information, the only thing we can do is keep Sasuke as far away from Orochimaru as possible," Kakashi replied grimly.

"Is that possible, now that the cursed seal has been inflicted upon him?"

At that, the Jounin instructor looked troubled. Until this point, he had never considered that there could be a component of that technique that allowed the user a faint sense of where the one affected by it was. If such was true, keeping his student away from harm would be much harder than he had anticipated. But when he thought about it, Sasuke had always had a hard time avoiding conflict anyways.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Sasuke awoke in a daze, Sharingan spinning madly, traces of his startling nightmare still skipping and replaying like broken video cassette before his eyes. He took a moment to blink away the disturbing images and adjust to the darkness of the room as crimson orbs bled softly into deep gray once more. He felt his heels touching the end of a mattress slightly, his head atop a pillow that was neither soft nor rough. He lay on top of the sheets, as the room was quite warm as a result of the closed window nearby, though rain no longer pounded against its glassy panes.

_Rain... What happened while it was raining?_

Though not normally as slow on the uptake, Sasuke was having considerable trouble remembering the events of a few hours passed. Not after a second of puzzled pondering, however, he sat straight up in bed in a panic, ignorant of the resulting head rush.

_There's no time! I have to escape from wherever it is I'm being held, and--_

He stopped, and looked down at his current state of undress. His white ANBU vest had been removed and placed on a wooden chair in the corner of the room, along with all the hidden armour that had been underneath, and his gloves and arm-guards. His shoes were under the chair, beside which sat his dejected duffel bag, leaving him in naught but his black undershirt, pants of a similar hue, and the protective tape wrapped around his shins.

Beginning to feel rather silly at his jumping to conclusions, he took a quick observation of the room before allowing himself to fall back into the pillow at the back of his head. Judging from the appearance of the place, he was in a room of a small hospital or clinic. And he seriously doubted that if anyone had taken him hostage, they would bother to make him comfortable. It seemed that the others had managed just fine without him, and were probably sleeping somewhere nearby.

Sasuke turned his head in the pillow, and was surprised to see a folded washcloth, still slightly damp, right in front of him. He reached over to pick it up, and held it a small ways above him, speculating. There was hardly any moisture left in it, indicating it had been there for at least a few hours. For such an object to be necessary in the first place he would have had to have been running a fever.

_How bad was I?_

All he could remember from the confusing encounter in the hotel room was the mind-numbing pain, spreading all the way through him from the injury at the base of his neck before he had lost consciousness. He placed the washcloth down at his side and brushed his fingertips across where the wound would have been, almost worried when nothing happened.

There were too many things going on that he didn't know the answer to, too many unknowns in what should have been a predictable situation. It was but the second day of what he had thought would be over a week's journey, and the events that had just recently occurred had everything spiraling out of control. Caught up in a conflict between two nations, without a way to escape the web of difficulties that lay ahead. It seemed more now than ever that luck was forever against him.

_No... This isn't just luck. I should have known nothing would be as easy as I thought it would be._

Nothing had ever been easy, Sasuke contemplated, wide awake and staring at the cieling. From the day he had been born, he had been trapped in a struggle to do better than his brother before him. Until that fateful day, life had been a competition. But now, shouldering the death of an entire clan, it was much more. He was charged with the responsibility of avenging his family name, a fate he had accepted ever since the tragedy that had brought it to light, and one he would carry until the day finally came when he struck down the very bane of his existance.

He had thought the end of such a sorrowful, lonely road was in sight, when he had been assigned the mission he had worked towards his entire life. Now he knew otherwise, feet worn from travel but with no end in sight. New paths had opened up, twisting and turning away from the main road until it was impossible to tell which had originally been which. His objective was dancing further and further away, always running and leaving him no chance to catch up. He felt that at this rate, he would fight through an entire war before finally reaching what he had set out to do. And a time later, he would discover just how close he was to the truth.

But for the moment, all Sasuke could do was lay on his clinic bed and ponder the increasing impossibility of his lifelong goal. He was in no mood for sleep, though he supposed everyone in their right mind was peacefully dormant in their own bed, in their own home. Though where he lived could hardly be called that, he reflected. It was a house, and nothing more. An empty place filled with unwanted memories, and far too large to belong to only him.

The entire neighbourhood was like that. Were he to step out the door, he would lay eyes on the streets that had been littered with bloodied corpses that moonlit night. When he walked down those roads on the way to the Hokage's office, he would pass his aunt's and uncle's ruined bakery and remember the two of them sprawled lifelessly across the dirt path, fingers still intertwined lovingly. And near the entryway he passed through every single morning, a telephone pole was visible, a telephone pole upon which he had caught a fleeting glimpse of a man perched before dismissing it as an exhausted hallucination, only to later find out it had been his very own murderous brother.

It made no sense that he lived there still, after all this time. What should have been a comforting and familiar environment was a distant and cold place he could never happily look at again. Though he supposed if he had really wanted to forget about all that had happened in that house, he would have moved out long ago. It served as a reminder of what he had yet to accomplish, but unfortunately nothing else.

The silence in the room was almost unsettling. There were no raindrops sliding down the window, making tapping noises on roofs and sidewalks. There was no wind howling through the trees, from which not a single bird chirped its song. And though he had long since dismissed a childish fear of the dark, the tense atmosphere was making Sasuke steadily more uneasy.

He sat up in bed once more, this time twisting his legs around and dropping on to the floor. His feet stuck to the humid hardwood as he treaded to the chair to slip his shoes on, and realised he would probably wake someone in the building up if he went down the hallway making noise. So he moved quietly to the window, brushing the wispy curtains aside with his forearm, and slid it open using his free hand.

The faint, summery sound of crickets chirping was oddly absent, and not even a breeze greeted him. Shaking it off as the silence after the storm, he studied the open space before him. It was just barely wide enough for him to crouch on the windowsill and climb through, which he would have done it it were not for the presence of a thin screen he had somehow missed before. A moment's observation, however, revealed that it too could be slid to the side.

After touching down on the ground, Sasuke turned and closed both the screen and window behind him. He didn't know how long he would be out, but it was better that no bugs got into the room should he still be away when they came out of hiding. He had thought that being outside would ease his mind, but it was even more eerily silent and uncomfortable. There were large, glassy puddles everywhere, and a thick dew had settled in over what grass he could see around the path leading around the outside of the clinic to the main street. Not even the shrill hum of a cicada sounded.

He made his way to the front of the building, walking slowly to take in his surroundings. While not spectacularly beautiful, the theme of the place was very rustic and natural. On either side of the street were many low buildings, with tiled, slanted roofs and old parchment signs identifying their nature. Large, flat stones were pressed into the ground and led off in paths towards the marketplaces and restaurants, and trees of all different sorts sprung up behind them in abundance.

While passing by all this, Sasuke was increasingly reminded of his dwelling back in Konoha. It seemed there would be no rest for the weary of heart, as he stopped in front of a large building akin to the Police Force headquarters that had long since been unoccupied. It had once been his dream to join such a service, but he had dismissed both the word "dream" and the career as useless long ago. Joining the ANBU had been the closest he'd ever achieved to his forsaken ambition.

He looked to the front again, and was surprised to see an old-fashioned red entry gate not too far off. The village he had been brought to was quite small. Just off the stone-paved path leading up to the gate were two dirt paths, each winding up a slope and behind the trees where the rooftops of a number of houses could be seen under the glow of the moon. Though the air was calm and most would consider such a sight serene, the utter personal signifigance of the ghastly light from above was too plentiful for him to be able to enjoy it.

He sighed. The only other thing he could do apart from thinking was reflecting; he had wandered off to avoid either one, and had ultimately done both. Even for a short while, there was no escape from the problems he faced. But he supposed life had always been like that, and he had been foolish to assume that even for a second he could shirk all the memories and responsibilities that came with being the last remaining Uchiha. It was his duty to avenge the countless lost lives, and he would have to deal with it.

That wasn't all on his mind. It was recent events that had brought on the questioning of his ability, not what had happened in the distant past. First, the trespassing of numerous ninja from the Hidden Sound. They had willingly attacked him, knowing full well what would happen between the two countries in the case of armed confrontation. And then someone who seemed to be deliberately targeting him, whose motives were still unknown. If the mark left by this being had such an effect on him upon infliction, he was almost certain it had other hidden side-effects he had yet to experience. High fever and intense pain were probably the least of it.

Sasuke realized he was asking himself these questions at the wrong time. Nobody was awake to answer them, and nobody would be for another few hours. The best he could do was speculate and wait for the explanations to come along with the sun. The best course of action was returning to the clinic and getting some rest before the truth of the matter was thrown to light. He could better decide which way to go about his journey after he knew about all that was happening.

Journey... That was right. With the consecutive battles in the hotel room, he hadn't had time to even suggest that the other four return to Konoha. And after the whole ordeal, he still doubted they would consent to such a request. So with that for something to ponder instead, he started back towards where he had come from...

... Only to stop dead in his tracks, as something malevolent, taunting, and all too familiar sent shivers all up and down his spine. He turned to face the presence, scanning the area in anxious disbelief. That was something he had felt only once before. Something that had occurred just before the disaster that had forever changed his life, something that could only be the entire reason he was standing there in shock with no inclination to deny what he was feeling.

Beginning to shake with nervousness, eagerness and anger, his heart raced faster as he searched every which way around him. And then, atop the painted, smoothed beam of wood held up above the way into the town, a fleeting shadow of a human form dropped silently towards the ground only to fade into the night before touching it. Abandoning any reservations, he rushed after it, unaware and uncaring of the loud clacking of his shoes against the path.

Only when he passed beneath the entryway did Sasuke catch a flicker of crimson silk laid into black, fluttering out of sight. He recognized the bright shape as that of the cloudy pattern imprinted into the cloaks of the Akatsuki, whose members' faces he had seen numerous times in the handbook given to each and every member of ANBU. The book was a list of the enemies of Konoha, and provided the criminals' rank of danger and ability along with what had lead to their addition to the village's blacklist. He didn't need a handbook to know why this S-rank renegade was wanted dead or alive.

Running after nothing but glimpses of red fabric and the occasional hard-to-see flick of a dark ponytail had lead him many hundred meters outside the town. The grass grew longer with every step, and he soon found himself smack dab in the middle of an enormous field. Under the silver light pouring from above, the grass was a pale, drab gray. Everything was still; not a cloud moved from its place, not a leaf rustled, not an insect stirred.

He found himself having stopped, from the sheer likeliness of the scene before him and the field from his dream. Right on cue, a chilly breeze wafted through the area and ruffled his hair, a gigantic shadow passing overtop and swallowing the landscape in the clouds' black embrace.

The land was covered in darkness. Not a shadow stood or flickered, for there was no light from which they could have sprung. And in the midst of the choking tranquility, he stood still, reluctant to draw breath. Doubt. Fear. Anger. He knew not which he felt.

But then the answer became clear has he heard smooth steel sneaking from its scabbard behind him, a voice following shortly after. One he had grown to hate in its fifteen years of absence.

"I wonder if enough time has passed."

A blade whistled through the otherwise quiet air and became visible as splinters of silver light began to break through the clouds. Sasuke leapt back to avoid it and slid a thin switchblade from the bottom of his shoe, barely managing to throw another strike to the side before straightening again. Not a second had passed before another gust of wind rippled through the field, tearing another thick shroud over the moon.

"Do you think it's been long enough?"

He lunged furiously towards the voice, only to be thrown back again in the effort of parrying another swift blow.

"Show me how much you've grown."

Whirling to face the voice again, he took a wide swing with the small knife in his hand and slid another from his back pocket, barely catching the tip of a sword between the two weapons as it made a small nick in the front of his shirt. Leaping back as the sword vanished, he waited, heart racing and shoulders heaving with every quickened intake of air, for any sign as to the whereabouts of his unseen opponent.

With every passing moment, Sasuke's breaths became more and more agitated as he looked feverently about him. Roaring frustratedly, he let his knees bend and thrust an arm down sharply, grasping his wrist so tightly his knuckles turned white. Clenching his teeth, he felt raw power manifesting in his closed palm until it shrieked to life, chirping shrilly like a thousand frightened birds. Blue-white energy exploded into view, swallowing his arms until his elbows and covering the blades in his hands entirely, dancing and writhing eratically.

Illuminated before him by the blinding light he held in his palms was his older brother, Uchiha Itachi. And at the mere sight of himself reflected in calm, crimson-washed eyes almost identical to his own, an uncontrollable anger raged over him like liquid wildfire.

oooooooooooooooooooo

"--In any case, the best course of action would be to wait for Orochimaru to make his move."

"Exactly. Konoha would be held accountable for instigating a war if it were to take the initiative, and though it doesn't seem likely that this will happen, avoiding an armed conflict would prove most beneficial."

"Though it's inevitable that we will have to make an attack on Orochimaru directly to put an end to this matter."

"We?"

"Of course. Fuuma no Sato was originally a refugee village for immigrated ninja, as you may recall. It was founded prior to the reconnaissance project. And as its leader, I'd like nothing more than to join the coming battles, but shirking responsibility for glory is hardly admirable."

"Well put. It's a shame most of the newer jounin haven't quite gotten that through their heads yet, talented as they all are."

"However, I will be organizing forces as I see fit and holding several strategy conferences. I'll have Namu look after things on the field."

"That's only to be expected. How has Namu been, anyways?"

"Oh, quite well. She's turning out quite like her mother. I sent her over to the clinic a short while ago, though she didn't seem too happy about it, considering the time of day and the weather."

"So she's become a medic ninja, eh?"

"Well, no. But she has several abilities that are very useful in that field, including her unwillingness to back down from a tough situation."

"She's starting to sound more like you, to me."

"You flatter me, but idle praise, I'm afraid, does very little to affect me lately."

"Well, that's unfortunate. But I can see where you're coming from."

"Indeed. I would say it's been nice talking to you after so long, but I doubt this is the last time we'll be conversing like this with the times to come. Matters will only get more serious from this point."

"I'd rather it weren't that way, but you're right, as usual."

"Mm. I thank you for allerting me of this situation."

"Not at all. Having strong alliances with other countries is very important during a war."

"You even had to doubt this alliance?"

"Well, no. But as silly as it is, Konoha's residents are still quite wary of the relationship between us and the other nations ever since the Sand and the Sound temporarily joined forces."

"With good reason, I suppose, even if the alliance has been re-established for many years."

"You would have been one of the very first to know, am I right?"

"A fact many would consider to be very fortunate, I'm sure, but the constant gossip can be somewhat overwhelming at times. Even so, the good _does_ outweigh the bad."

At this final agreement, the two men became silent. They both seemed to be equally as lost in their thoughts, until Kakashi straightened abruptly, appearing to be quite alarmed.

"Do you hear that?" he asked, brow furrowing concernedly.

Jin strained his ears for a quick few seconds, but wasn't able to make anything out. Except for the fact that--

"--The rain's stopped..." he said, puzzled. "I hadn't even noticed until now."

"It eluded me as well," Kakashi conceded. "But listen closely."

There was a longer period of silence, until a very faint, very rapid "chii chii chii" noise gradually became audible.

"Birds?" Jin asked, much more confused than he had previously been. "They shouldn't be awake yet."

"I know. But I don't think..." Kakashi's eyes widened, and he stood up in a flash. "Oh no..."

"What?" There was another tense pause in the coversation, until Jin suddenly understood what the odd chirping noise he was hearing was. "That's Chidori! I thought you were the only one who knew how to use it!"

"There's only one other I taught it to, a long time ago." The jounin instructer looked perturbed beyond description. He turned back to Jin again. "Forgive me for leaving so suddenly without an explanation, but this is extremely serious. I have little time." And with that, he rushed out the door.

As soon as he set foot on the stone-paved path, an enormous blast of malicious intent forced him back a step, and he nearly tripped backwards into the house again. The very atmosphere before him waved and flickered like a mirage, and almost coursed with a dark aura. He attempted another step, and had to lean forewards with all his might to move even an inch.

But then like a taught string coming loose all of a sudden, he was thrown back as something in front of him burst silently, leaving an echo in his bones as he was knocked off his feet, letting out a startled yell. There was a thumping of footsteps in the hallway behind him, and Jin's voice bounced off the walls and out to him.

"Kakashi-dono, what's going--"

"Stay inside!" Kakashi called, his voice coming out with much more difficulty than was normal. "It's dangerous out here!"

At this point, he was in the process of struggling to stand, as the air pushed at him from all sides though there was no wind. By the time he had stood again, it felt as if every ounce of strength had been pressed further and further in until there was next to nothing left. Taking deep breaths, he readied himself, then launched forewards with all his remaining might.

There was a deafening roaring on all sides of him, and he felt as if his eardrums would pop at any moment. The air was like molasses, and a large starburst of sheer willpower that was both blinding and pitch black had begun to materialize before him. It shrieked suddenly, the ear-splitting noise growing louder and more shrill with every passing second of struggle. He held his arm behind him, breaking into a sweat as he gathered the very last of his energy into his palm. A new Chidori sparked weakly into existance, barely sustaining itself as its very substance was viciously snatched away before its weilder forced it into the heart of the power draining it and the two cacophonies were introduced to each other.

And then everything was quiet. Everything appeared to be normal again as Kakashi wearily stood straight again. That festering mass had been chakra, he realized, recalling the way in which it had sucked his own chakra reserves dry and added the stolen energy to itself. He had only experienced something of that magnitude once, and it had been from a distance, many years ago. Whoever such a terrible power belonged to wasn't human.

At that thought, he suddenly knew who it was, and raced forewards with reckless abaddon befitting of a man with a sense of urgency and danger he had neverfelt before.

((... Yeah, I kind of told Lauren I'd add her custom character in this chapter, but the scene I have planned just seemed really out of place in this serious installment. The next chapter will be pretty humorless too, but I'll try to add more of the funny after that, keeping in mind the somber setting for this fanfiction. I seriously doubt things will ever be as light-hearted as they were in the first chapter, though.

Anyways, sorry, Lauren! I promise I'll give Namu her debut soon.))


	7. CHAPTER 6: MOMENTS

(( As of today, SNK is officially one year old. And as a commemoration gift for such a momentous occasion, I have here to present to you chapter six. Take pleasure in knowing that I had to work my butt off to get this chapter out today. ))

CHAPTER 6: MOMENTS

As Sakura raced down the streets of Fuuma no Sato, a growing feeling of dread festered in her stomach. At five in the morning, the sky was growing lighter and nature's sounds had begun to play their daily orchestra, but she didn't think for a second to stop and enjoy what was shaping up to be a beautiful day. The nightmare that had woken her had been no different than the ones she had been experiencing as of late. However, the sense of alarm that normally accompanied a bad dream had lingered for much longer than usual and eventually driven her out the door. Standing outside in the departing morning silence had only fed her uneasiness, so she ran.

But what was she running from? Her dream? That wasn't what she was scared of, she resolved as a red entranceway that had been overlooked much earlier in the morning came into view. The past month's nightmares were frightening, that was for sure, but she had grown used to them. It was the lasting effects that had unnerved her so.

"Afraid of fear..." she mumbled to herself, having come to a halt, and scoffed. Letting her breathing slow, she chastisied herself, "I guess that's what you get for an hour's sleep."

And she _was _awfully tired. Opening her mouth wide to yawn, Sakura tried to find her reasoning in taking an impromptu jog so early. The back of her throat stung as cool air was sucked past it.

_I'll make sure never to exercise this early again_, she thought, massaging her neck gingerly. Though her limbs wanted nothing more than to rest, she knew through experience that once she was awake, it was near impossible to fall back asleep again. So she took a moment to think of something with which to occupy herself, as she didn't quite relish the thought of lying in bed until everyone else was up and about. She was already outside anyways.

... Although at that hour of the day, none of the shops or restaurants would be open yet, leaving very little to explore but the roads. She tried to recall any of the signs she may have passed two or so hours ago, but nothing came up. Except for the clinic. And then she had her answer.

It was very doubtful that any of three having been left there were awake yet, but visiting them would give more to think about than the fact that despite her supposedly calm demeanor, her heart was still gently hammering away. Passing it off as nervousness in regards to the ninjas' conditions, Sakura attempted to remember whether the clinic was on the left or right. It was supposed to be closer to the entrance, which was currently in sight, than the hotel she had previously exited, so she turned around again and started walking while on the lookout for its identification sign.

After five or so minutes, a sign on the right of the path that said "Morita Clinic" caught her attention, and she hurried her pace for the remaining few steps that would take her to it. Despite having been there before, the place was almost unrecognizable without the pouring rain beating against it and although it still looked quite small from the front, its appearance was much less overlookable than it had been earlier. It was actually much nicer than most of the other buildings, with cherrywood walls and pale rose roof tiles that accented it perfectly. Instead of flimsy ricepaper doors, they were wooden, and she discovered that they pushed open if unlocked when she entered the clinic.

A windchime overhanging the door clinked and jangled as she walked through. Instead of the elderly man that had sat there before, a young lady that appeared to be eighteen or nineteen was slouched over in her seat and on to the desk, quite apparently asleep, facing the door with a thin stream of drool trailing from the corner of her open mouth and into a small puddle on a half-completed piece of paperwork. Her breathing was audible from the doorway, and brown hair that looked to be slightly damp was covering half of her face. Although mostly kept back by a checkered bandana, it appeared to be frizzy as it wasn't completely dry yet.

Most would consider such a sight an example of poor staff, but Sakura understood very well how tired the woman must have been, coming in at such an early time. She regretted having to wake her up, as she stifled a yawn, but she had forgotten which rooms the others had been given. She walked over, and lightly tapped the woman on the shoulder.

"Excuse me," she said, and the woman jumped upright suddenly, startling them both. She blinked with wide turquoise eyes for a moment and her cheeks flushed, before she cleared her throat and relaxed somewhat (while still managing to look a little embarassed).

"Ah, how can I help you?" she asked, beginning to rub sleep out of her eyes. The ink from the document she had been working on was stuck to one side of her face.

"I'm sorry for waking you up, um..." Sakura trailed off, and eventually thought of the name of the clinic. "... Morita-san...?"

The woman laughed, and corrected, "Dairei Namu. Anyways, what do you need?"

Sakura paused in surprise at her recognition of the woman's surname, but recovered her composure quickly. She supposed Namu was about the right age to be Jin's daughter. However, she was silent for another few seconds in speculation. It wasn't possible to visit all three people at once. "Could you tell me Uchiha Sasuke's room number, please?"

"Sure, just hold on a sec," Namu answered and began rifling through the papers before her.

_Typical_, the sarcastic voice at the back of the kunoichi's head snickered. She willed it to be quiet, countering with the reasoning that he had been in the worst shape when they had brought him in. The excuse seemed rather weak even to her, however.

After a moment of rummaging, Namu eventually found the record she was looking for and spoke up. "Uchiha Sasuke, right? He's in room 109. Do you need help finding it?"

"No, it's alright. I'll let you sleep."

Namu chuckled a little, and said brightly, "Have a nice day," before letting her head drop back to the desk again.

Sakura walked past her and into the hallway, and observed the numbers on the doors before picking the right direction and looking to the left for the appropriate room number. She found it with little time and effort, and knocked tenatively on the door before entering.

_It's not like he's even awake to_--

She felt herself stop thinking as she stood in the doorway. And her prior anxiety was no longer unfounded, for there was nobody in the room. Breathlessly, she entered, and scanned the area. The bedsheets and pillow were wrinkled slightly, but otherwise undisturbed. The only thing missing from the small pile of belongings by the chair to her right was a pair of shoes.

She treaded over to the closed window at the back of the room and examined it, heart racing and throbbing in every part of her body. The windowsill was dusty, with a few clear spots in the shapes of finger and shoeprints. The curtains had been drawn. This alone was enough evidence to prove that Sasuke had left without anyone knowing.

Peering through the glass revealed that there was a small dirt path in front of the window, but it didn't go into the forest nearby. It continued on straight, most likely around to the front of the building. Without second thought, Sakura rushed from the room and back into the hall, then down to the lobby again and out the door.

Once outside, she debated which way to go in a panic. Looking frantically from side to side, she realized that Sasuke could have gone in any direction. She had walked this road herself, but only for a marginal amount of time. He could have gone anywhere in two hours.

She didn't consider for a second that he was simply taking a walk. She had never worried herself this sick before, and had been correct on weaker gut feelings in the notion that something was amiss. Suddenly struck with an idea, she ran towards the town's entrance for the second time that morning. As she approached the red entryway, she looked to the sky; an enormous pillar of pitch-black smoke that she had miraculously overlooked in her early morning stupor rose from beyond the village's limits.

Lengthening her strides, she felt her chest constricting from exhaustion, leg muscles straining. But she urged herself further, in the fear that something horrible awaited her. Soon she had passed straight underneath the well-sanded red wood, and was careening down a downhil dirt path leading to a grassy valley below. She flew by stone monuments marking the sides of the road, momentum increasing with her terror as tongues of flame suddenly burst into view on the horizon.

This was unlike any fire she had ever seen before. Flames as dark as ink reached up towards the sky, tossed about by a strong prairie wind. Ebony sparks flew in all directions like flower petals afloat in the breeze, landing in the grass and igniting immediately. The raging inferno had spread throughout almost half of the field in long branches, spreading its black berth by the second. As she neared, the fire towered higher and higher and looked to swallow the entire sky.

A lone man stood stationary before the fire, hands locked in a seal, silver hair whipped about him as he remained completely still in concentration. Enormous pillars of water twisted and raged from the very air before him, growing claw-like appendages and vicious snouts, branching out to reach the flames and combatting them fiercely. The water dragons surged furiously upon touching the fire and struggled around dark lengths of the blaze, dousing it minimally before vanishing into steam, only to be replaced by more of their coursing essence.

By this time, Sakura had rushed up to behind Kakashi, and shouted to him, horrified, above the roaring and gushing and hissing of the disaster displayed only meters in front of her. He flicked her a glance before focusing on his diminishing technique again, and yelled back in a strained voice, "I can't keep this up much longer. Sakura, listen to me."

Teeth beginning to chatter despite the intense heat, she answered with wide, fearful eyes, "Okay."

Kakashi acknowledged her reply with a nod, and continued, back still to her, "Sasuke is on the other side of these flames. The smoke is only coming from the top, so you can't go over, but you absolutely need to get him out of there."

"After I'm done explaining, I'm going to focus everything into one spot. Run through the water as fast as you can. I'm almost certain Sasuke has been gravely injured, but pay no attention to his wounds. Just take him, and find a way out of the fire, am I clear?"

"What about you?" Sakura shouted back, every inch of her shaking.

Kakashi hesitated for a moment, then replied, regret seeping into his voice. "My chakra is almost completely gone. It's likely I won't make it out in time, or be able to stop the fire, but don't let that stop you. After you've escaped, go straight to the village and warn everyone. There's an underground passageway that starts behind Jin's house and ends on the other side of a mountain. Take the village there, quickly, and everyone should be safe. Time is of the essence."

Sakura was silent for what seemed an eternity. Nostrils flaring from the pungent stench of burning earth, she gripped her arms tightly, feeling more lost than if her entire life had vanished from behind her. It was all too much to take in. Then her shoulders began to shake, angry, terrified, confused tears brimming in her eyes and scattering as she took a rattling breath and screamed, "I don't understand _anything_! The return order, those giant snakes, the Hidden Sound, that bastard from the hotel, this fire; _none _of it! I don't know what's going _on_ anymore!"

"I know!" Kakashi urged from over his shoulder, beginning to struggle with controlling his technique as a result of his momentary lapse in concentration. "And I know I promised, but there's no _time _to explain things!"

"How am I supposed to react, then!" Sakura fired back, frustration beginning to dominate the other emotions fueling her outburst. "I _can't_ agree with what will happen if I follow your orders!"

"You don't have a _choice_!" The tone of the older man had begun to mirror that of his pupil. "The outcome is bleak at best, but a few dozen buildings is a small price to pay compared to what will happen if Sasuke dies! Do you understand me? This is a crisis for the entire _country_, not just the village at our backs!"

This drew only a few shuddering breaths and a stifled whimper from the young woman. She truly was scared senseless; half of her wanted to run as fast as she could back to town, grab her belongings, and high-tail it back home. The other half was torn between smacking her teacher for being so goddamned selfless and absolutely correct, and rushing head-on into the blaze to save one of the people she cared for most. She was supposed to be good in these perilous situations, calm and collected and ready to take the necessary course of action. But circumstances she should have been able to handle had reduced her to a blubbering mess, feet planted to the ground in unreasonable fear, lip quivering, sobbing shamelessly. A disgrace.

This was the part in the movie where the characters experienced some great revelation, either due to someone having encouraged them in the past or their admirable sense of duty towards protecting those important to them. They could defy all odds and come out victorious, thanks to the sweet nothings of their lovers, the moving words of their mentors, or the unbreakable promises made to themselves. Anything was possible in fiction. Having grown up on such pacifistic views, Sakura had always been sure that she could take on anything thrown at her, although no such motivation had ever existed for her. And she had; with numerous tough missions under her belt, she had achieved a sense of self-fulfillment all on her own. No crutches.

All that was gone now, and she had nothing to fall on but her knees as she sank to the ground hopelessly. Letting her shoulders slump, she put her head in her hands, letting tears fall quietly but freely. The reasonable part of her cried for her to stand and make herself useful, but her limbs had all but turned to rubber in her mind. There was a longing, swelling bigger and bigger in her chest and into her throat, for her to force herself on to her feet and go forwards to save herself from further disappointment. But she had drawn a strange and ill-timed comfort from sitting huddled in the grass, where nobody could see her.

She wanted to be brave enough to stand and go forwards. She knew she was capable of what had been asked of her, yet couldn't seem to scrounge up enough willpower. The danger of her surroundings wasn't a factor anymore. Silent and tearful, she debated what to do.

Kakashi stood amidst a veritable sea of flames, strength rapidly diminishing as he put every ounce of his focus into keeping his chakra output under control. Without any water in sight and every ounce of moisture sucked from the air, the technique was more of the summon variety than anything, and it was all he could do to keep it going. Without having made a blood contract of any kind, the dragons were not obeying him, but their own desire to survive and were accordingly taking more than their fair share of his energy to keep going.

He knew he wouldn't last at this rate. Be it either death from the fire or from using more chakra than he had, he was prepared to meet whatever end was in store for him should it be planned for that morning. He flinched as the feeling drained further from his arms. He knew exactly what would happen to him if he continued, having seen it occur in others many times before. And yet he continued to let the numerous water incarnations battle in his stead, with the fullest intentions of carrying on until either the blaze died or he did. He was the very reason for what had unfolded, and would do everything in his power to remedy the situation no matter what it cost him.

But was what he was doing really enough? He couldn't put out the fire, and couldn't save Sasuke himself. Everything was up to Sakura, who seemed far too upset and confused to be able to brave the task appointed to her. Though he supposed he had been rather harsh, considering the circumstances. Even so, he hadn't expected the young woman to break down as she had.

With his original plan down the drain, Kakashi had to consider his other options, and fast. Sasuke would have acted, had be been conscious on the other side of the flames. Naturo and Kiba were down for the count, so that left Hanabi. But there was another, this one awake and a distance closer with an array of techniques perfectly suited for dealing with the matter at hand.

"Sakura," he said to her again. "Hurry back to the village and get Jin." More silence answered him. He looked quickly over his shoulder, noticing she was still quite distraught. "Can you stand?"

Sakura sniffled quietly and sighed. She slowly pushed herself to her feet, wiping her eyes. "I'm fine." Her voice was filled with meek regret. She took another moment to regain her lost composure before speaking again. "I... I'm sorry, I just..."

"It's fine," Kakashi coaxed. That was the second time that day she had cried. He really _had _screwed up. "Now hurry."

She nodded, and turned back towards where she had come only to see more of those haunting, dark flames. Many small blazes had blossomed by themselves in patches, burning on the spot. Oddly enough, none of them seemed to be spreading at all, but most were far too close together for her to be able to maneuver through.

It took a moment of scanning, but she was able to spot a large gap far off to the left. She rushed towards it, the skin on her warm face feeling as though the heat had stretched it. Not seconds before she would have passed through, one of her feet made contact with something slippery hidden by the grass and she momentarily scrambled for purchase before leaping backwards, slightly shaken. She looked down and saw a dark, thick liquid dripping from the long blades of grass and into the large pool she had slipped in. Both of her feet were covered with it.

Numbly, she reached down to wipe some of the substance off of her calves. Even before she had studied the dirtied palm of her hand, she knew what is was she had slipped in and it only made her all the more terrified. She let herself panic for a moment, thoughts of how much more of the blood had been lost and how long the one who had shed it had suffered such injuries buzzing around in her head. But for numerous reasons, Sakura was able to hide her fear and worry away quickly. She had already disappointed her teacher and herself, and could be of no further use in such a petrified state. To Sasuke or to anyone.

Careful to avoid the puddle, she started forewards again. But as she neared the flames once more, something she would have never expected happened. Suddenly gaining lives of their own, the flames on all sides of her surged towards her, closing any and all gaps between them as they formed a ring and began closing in at an alarming rate. Caught in mid-stride, Sakura could feel and see the black flames coming and closer and closer, but there was nothing she could do by this point. She crammed her eyes shut and waited to be swallowed whole by the fre.

A near-deafening whooshing sound from above permeated the scorching night air, and as she threw her gaze upwards, she barely had time to behold an enormous sphere of water cannonballing towards her before it made contact. The breath was pounded from her chest as she found herself flattened against the ground, air bubbles streaming from her open mouth and nose. Every bone in her body felt as if it would snap under the immense pressure of the water coming at her from all sides, and she weakly struggled to force herself upwards as her lungs screamed for the oxygen they had been deprived of.

And then, with a final splash that washed over her from head to toe, it was over. She lay gasping for breath on the soaked ground, chest heaving, coughing out the large amount of water she had swallowed. There was no more fire. Just a few black spots on the ground that she could see if she turned her head enough. It was hard to believe, but she was still alive.

She lay on her back for a while longer, staring at the sky displayed for miles above her. Drenched completely, she had all but forgotten about the crisis behind her until another gigantic ball of water soared above her head and landed, spraying her with tiny droplets. Another followed, descending further back, and then another, and another. She rolled over on to her stomach, and saw that a great deal of the flames had been put out. Kakashi had stopped his technique and was looking at something past her.

Sakura turned herself over again and sat up, still quite startled. Someone had come down the hill from the village, and was now running towards where she was. As whoever it was came closer, she could see what looked like a housecoat billowing behind him. He held both hands in front of him, from which sprang a pale blue glow, and soon after yet another of the water cannon balls. She followed it with her eyes, and continued to stare in awe as it single-handedly doused the remainder of the blaze with a mighty splash.

By this point, the person had come up in front of her. "I apologize," Jin said, noting her dazed expression and her drenched clothes and hair, "But there was no other way. Although you had me worried for a second, there. I thought I'd accidentally killed you, when you didn't get up."

The kunoichi flushed, despite herself. "S-sorry," she answered, abashed.

"It's fine," came the reply. Jin was looking intently forwards. "There are other things you should be worrying about."

Sakura followed his gaze, and immediately leapt to her feet. Kakashi was crouched by someone a distance away, and she knew exactly who it was. She rushed over, dread and fear and worry making themselves present again. How could she possibly have forgotten? She pulled up beside her teacher, and gasped audibly. There was Sasuke, still and pale as if dead.

The first thing she saw was the blood. Smeared across one side of his face, spreading from a ghastly, deep puncture wound at the base of his neck. Dripping from numerous slash marks across his torso and arms. Oozing thickly from a terrible gash above his knee. Pooling around his torn hands. Trailing from the corner of his mouth. Blood was everywhere.

She dropped to her knees, this time not from hopelessness but with purpose. Leaning over, she placed her index and middle fingers under his chin to check for a pulse. She waited, the silence in the air almost choking. Nothing. She cursed and drew her hand back, instead taking a limp rist and awaiting the telltale thump of a heartbeat. Her arms began to shake. Still nothing. Biting her lip, she hastily tucked her hair behind an ear and pressed the side of her head against his chest, flinching but not pulling away as her skin became wet with blood. And still she waited for a sound she thought she would never hear.

_... Ba-dump..._

It was faint, but it was there. Sakura drew back, her own heart pounding, and studied what lay before her. There was no question that the wound in the man's neck was the most serious. She held her hands before her, and concentrated on the seals she had long since imprinted on to her arms. Most of her power had been exhausted the previous night, and she still hadn't completely recovered. Her own strength wouldn't be enough.

After a moment of focusing, she felt the old energy beginning to course through her. A familiar tingling feeling ran down her arms, and she began forming the seals for a basic healing technique. Once she could feel the chakra materializing around her hands, she leaned over towards the injury. As soon as one of her fingers touched the clammy skin around it, however, a startling vision made her jump. It had been quick, disappearing in the blink of an eye, but no less jarring; a yellow eye, dark-rimmed, with a thin pupil. Just like a snake's.

Kakashi, watching powerlessly, noticed as Sakura recoiled as if bitten. "What is it?" he asked.

She blinked, brow furrowing, puzzled. "I don't know," she answered truthfully. She neared the wound again, slower this time, as if expecting something. Then she suddenly yanked her hands away, falling on to her behind and looking very shocked. She swallowed, eyes wide.

"I can't get close at all," she said fearfully. "Every time I try, I see a snake's eye. I don't even know why it scares me."

"This is undoubtedly the cursed seal acting up," Jin explained, coming up from behind. "You won't be able to heal Sasuke until it's taken care of."

"Cursed seal?" Sakura asked, trying to recall anything he could be talking about. Then a possibility came to mind. "You mean that strange mark on his neck?"

Kakashi nodded. "But now isn't the time to explain," he added. He indicated towards the rapidly growing pool of blood beneath the Uchiha. "It's true that chakra isn't of any use right now, but there are other ways you can slow down the bleeding."

Sakura immediately siezed a corner of the tank top she wore overtop of her gray mesh undershirt, and tore off a long strip around the bottom with her other hand. She wove it underneath Sasuke's arm and wrapped it tightly around the wound, tying it off with a double knot. She followed suite with the injury above his knee.

Kakashi considered something for a moment before saying, "We should go back to the clinic. I can preform a sealing technique better there, and there are plenty of medical supplies for until I'm finished."

"Kakashi-dono," Jin started, "aren't you--"

"I know. I have almost no chakra left." He glanced at Sakura. "That's why I'm going to need some help."

oooooooooooooooooooo

Naruto yawned and stretched, sitting up in his bed. He looked around. His things had been dropped on a table nearby, the window was open a crack, and he couldn't tell what time it was, thanks to the fact that some idiot had decided not to put an alarm clock on the bedside table. Though if he were to make a guess based on the fact that the sun had just risen, he'd say it was around six o'clock. A bit earlier than the time he'd usually wake up, but it would have to do; he already felt awake.

One of the many perks of being a vessel to a nine-tailed fox demon, he supposed, putting his hands behind his head and falling back on to his pillow again. Damn, that was a good pillow. Where was he, anyways? He needed to ask where they got their pillows some day. He glanced over to the bedside table and noticed one of those notepads, like the ones you would find in a hotel. Weird. They had notepads, but not alarm clocks.

He took a while to scan the front page for the name of wherever he was, and eventually read "Morita Clinic" at the bottom. Odd. Why was he at a clinic?

... _Wait, now I remember!_

Naruto sat up again, and pulled up the bottom of his shirt. He looked for any burns, scars, rashes or cuts, but only saw the regular swirling pattern left by the Fourth and watever kind of permanent ink he'd used to seal the Kyuubi. That was also weird. He could have _sworn _that snake guy had done something to his gut, but he didn't look or feel any different.

_Oh well,_ he resolved. _I'll just wait for someone to explain things. That usually works out for me._

He swung himself off the side of the bed and on to the floor, shivering slighly as his feet touched the cold hardwood. He wandered over to the window, and noticed that for the first few steps, he stuck to the floor. Eesh. You'd think people would have the sense to install a carpet.

He slid the window open all the way, and was pleased to note the air was quite warm. The birds and insects looked to have just come out, but were already making plenty of noise, just the way he liked it. Things were creepy sometimes in the morning when all was quiet, which was why he normally didn't wake himself up until about seven when the city was bustling, but he looked to have picked just the right time that morning.

What to do, though? Nobody seemed to be up yet, judging from the absense of conversing voices outside, and that meant none of the stores or places like that were open yet either. The occasional walk _was _nice, but Naruto was more in the mood for interaction than anything else. So as much as he hated it, he just decided to wait until the town woke up a bit. He went over to his bag, with the intent of searching for something to occupy himself with.

It turned out he didn't have to wait long at all for that, as the sound of a slamming door met his ears. Voices, most of which he recognized followed soon after, but after a moment's discussion there were only footsteps. They went straight by the room he was in and to what he assumed to be the end of the hallway, before another door closed and all was silent.

He abruptly strode to his own doorway and turned the knob, peering out into the hallway. Nobody was there anymore. But as he looked in both directions for any sign of what may have happened, something on the floor caught his eye. He gazed down at it to discover it was a dark fleck, but before he was able to figure out just what it was, someone came bursting through two swinging doors at the end of the hall.

He didn't really have time to see her as she hurried by him, so close they almost collided. Naruto stepped back into the doorframe and watched, bewildered, as she hurriedly rummaged through a cupboard behind the entrance desk. The woman pulled out rolls upon rolls of bandages, packaged herbs, bottles of anesthetic, cleaning swabs; anything you'd expect to find at a small pharmacy, or a, well... Clinic.

"Hey," he called as she ran out from behind the desk, "what's go--" She had disappeared behind the swinging doors again before he could even finish his sentence. In her rush, she had dropped almost half of what she had been carrying on to the floor. A roll of gauze had fallen on to the dark spot he had been examining earlier, and it revealed itself to be a liquid as it soaked through and turned red.

Alarmed, he looked further down the hall and saw that numerous other puddles marked the floor, leading to and through the doors at the end. For once more nervous and worried than curious, he stepped out of his room and walked brusquely past the others to where he could begin to hear a commotion. Without second thought, he pushed through the doors and stepped into utter chaos.

oooooooooooooooooooo

"--losing too much blood--"

"--Namu, make sure to bandage--"

"--almost done. Just a second more--"

"--what am I supposed to do about--"

"--much longer! Hurry!"

Kakashi placed the finishing touches on the sealant script, placing the wet ink brush down on a cabinet behind him and hurriedly placing his palms over the gushing wound above his student's shoulder as Sakura drew hers away. "Pay close attention," he said to her, making sure she was listening. She nodded grimly, and he continued.

"When I take my hands away, focus your chakra into the ink and disperse it as evenly as possible. Only when every single drop has been affected will the seal start to work. From then on, all you have to do is watch, but make sure the process is completed before you start healing him."

"Got it."

"Whenever you're ready."

Sakura took a deep breath, and prepared herself. "Okay."

Kakashi removed his hands, and for a moment, everything froze. Namu looked up from tightly wrapping gauze around one of Sasuke's hands. Jin neglected packing dried herbs into the injury above his knee. And to Sakura's utmost fear and dismay, she hesitated.

But then she closed her eyes tightly, concentrating on the infinite blackness before her. Black, like the ink. Black was where the energy needed to go. Strands of her mental and physical consciousness intertwined and rolled into a ball in her chest, beating and pulsing. Then imaginary hands began weaving them into a fine thread, letting the sphere unravel and twisting the two strings together with delicate and precise fingers. The threads flowed through her blood and veins all the way to her own fingertips, poking through each individual pore and congealing into one thick stream.

The river of consciousness lurched and twisted, trying desperately to tear itself apart. But the imaginary hands yanked and pulled it, until it was back on course again. Back towards black. The threads continued to be woven and released, all the while the ball from which they were being created growing smaller and smaller until almost no raw energy was left.

And then the stream touched wet ink and merged with it, coursing through it like a river of stars in the ocean of night. It twisted and turned through complex characters, all intertwined, coming up one collumn of writing and swirling around a wheel in the center to spread to the rest. Over cold skin and on to frigid tabletop, then back again. The blackness in its entirety had soon been englufed by the pure light of the body and mind's connection, and retreated to a small ring around more darkness before reverting to its original hue once more.

Emerald eyes flew open. A chest heaved exhaustedly. And the hands continued weaving, channeling their masterpieces into the damaged life force of another. Even as the last of the string left its host, the hands worked on, taking blood and breath and other things that weren't theirs for crafting and sending them to that which they had lead themselves to believe they existed for.

The room spun furiously. Sakura could feel her eyelids closing, her arms falling and her knees buckling, yet did nothing to stop herself from plummeting into unconsciousness. As long as she saved... Long as... Save...

The hands disappeared, and she fell backwards against a startled Uzumaki Naruto. The last thing she heard before the room's colours melted together and dripped to black was two voices calling her name.

oooooooooooooooooooo

_--feel and see himself bleeding, but he never--_

_--heard a cry not of rage but of sheer adrenaline rush and realized it was his--_

_--pain that finally woke him from his state of madness, and he screamed in agony as the blade slid further and further into--_

_"--despair, and know you have failed as--"_

_"--expected, from my foolish--"_

_"--little brother. Know this, before I--"_

_"--did it for you."_

The darkness before Sasuke's eyes slowly faded to a scorching orange as he reluctantly gained consciousness. There was no need for him to sit up, nor for him to examine his surroundings. He didn't need to feel the thin covers on top of him, he didn't need to feel the breeze wafting in from an open window, and he didn't need to feel the warm afternoon sunlight on his face. He was awake. He knew he was alive because of this, and that alone was enough to make him wish he wasn't.

Someone shifted in a chair nearby and sighed, and he could hear the rustle of clothing as they moved around for a while. There was a staticky noise from beside him as whoever it was turned on the radio, and a clicking noise followed soon after as they repeatedly pressed the button to change channels. The person eventually decided on one, and leaned back against their chair.

The song started out oddly, with ambient sound effects and various random noises like a door creaking and footsteps falling on the pavement. Then a tune became distinguishable, in its dreamy, slow and very synthetic splendour. A female vocalist began with a calm melody of "la"s that seemed vaguely familiar and continued for what seemed like an eternity, beginning to lull him back to sleep. He had barely heard the first four lines before he became deaf and blind to the world once more.

_Your heart was burning,_

_And there was a smell to it._

_It was the end of your dream,_

_And the beginning of everything..._

(( Yeah, those lyrics are from the song "Moments" by Ayumi Hamasaki, hence the title of this chapter. I first heard the accoustic piano version (which is a million times better than the original, might I add) over the summer when I was working on chapter two, and I pretty much adored it, so I looked up the translation. And lo and behold, they fit what I had planned for the story perfectly. Kind of funny how those things work out.

I actually had the concept for this chapter planned when I wrote the prologue. Naturally, a lot has changed since then, but knowing exactly what I was going to do definitely helped the writing process. Truthfully, I've been doing a lot of planning lately, which means that you can expect more frequent updates. Hopefully. ))


	8. CHAPTER 7: COMFORT

(( And here we have the first of hopefully not many more filler chapters. This installment exists solely to provide some backstory for Namu, and, believe it or not, Akamaru, and basically to let all the negative emotions fester for a while before the plot gets back on track. There are still some flashbacks I need to get through before that can happen, though.

Anyways, I apologize for the wait. I started writing immediately after posting chapter six, but after I had five or six pages, writer's block struck again, along with yet another story idea. More on that later. The point is, I put off writing for two or three weeks to sit around the house, watching anime and eating cookie dough, and I feel like I rushed the ending a little but tough for you because I'm not changing it. The end. ))

CHAPTER 7: COMFORT

It was with great remorse that Hanabi finally considered herself awake, at what she hoped to be a time late into the morning. After spending a large number of minutes simply lying curled up under the nice, heavy hotel bedsheets, the idea had eventually crossed her mind to get up, and she did so unwillingly. Eyes still half-closed, she reluctantly slid the blankets from her, and sat groggily on the futon until her senses had cleared somewhat. How ironic, that a ninja whose techniques relied solely on vision could barely see a foot in front of her in the morning. Even more so that the whole clan shared such a trait. Only when the clock on the wall was completely visible, did she groan and finally slide out of bed. The hands read nine fifty-one. Too early.

Her breath caught as she stood, and after a bewildered moment she realized she had fallen asleep with her chest bound. Breathing constrictedly, she fumbled with the tight knot she had made in the bandages underneath her shirt and wondered why it had to be so ridiculously hard to disguise one's gender. Such precautions probably hadn't even been necessary, when she thought about it. Nobody had even noticed when she walked out through the front door of the Hyuuga, in plain sight. It seemed that being so overlookable paid off. Nevertheless, she managed to pry the knot undone and the long linen strip fell in a loose pile at her feet. She immediately breathed a deep sigh of relief.

She wasn't surprised in the least when she saw that the futon beside hers was empty; if given the choice, Hanabi would sleep until at least noon every day, and by then the entire country would be awake. So, giving little thought to the fact that the covers hadn't been made and Sakura's duffel remained untouched under the window, she went to her own travel bag. It was easy to carry, she would grant it that, as she unclipped the top flap. But if she hadn't folded everything and taken the time to arrange it to her liking, she wouldn't have been able to fit half the stuff she had packed. It was a cute bag, but not very useful if you weren't at least a little organized.

Chilly in her tank top, she pulled out a dark long-sleeved shirt, and another small top that she knew if she wore on its own, her father would kill her. She supposed it _did_ look more like a sports bra with sleeves than an actual shirt, but that was precisely why she was wearing another top underneath it. Though if her father really _was _in town, she knew he'd have a lot more to comment on than what she was wearing. Even so, there was no need to go walking around in wrinkled, slightly damp clothes from the day before.

And at that though, Hanabi pulled out quite possibly the most un-presentable pair of pants she owned. Baggy, too long, and littered with zippers with no pockets and the odd uneven stitching pattern, they were a crowning example of what not to wear if you wanted to make a respectable first impression. She held them up to her two shirts and found that the olive colour matched the black and white well, and thus her decision was made as she rummaged around for a second more to find suitable undergarments and socks.

Clothes in a neat pile she held in her arms, she scanned the spacious room for a bathroom area, and quickly spotted one along the same wall as the door. Though she was pretty sure nobody would be peeking in through the window, she didn't trust the fact that the door could easily be seen through and stepped into the small alcove to change in a mostly concealed area. As she passed by the mirror above the sink, she noticed the state of disarray her hair was in. But such was only expected, after she had slept with it kept up, and wet, no less. As a result, it had dried unevenly and at odd angles.

So after she had quickly changed into her clean clothes, she rolled up the sleeve of her shirt (as it too was a bit too large for her) and wet her fingers under the faucet, combing them through the tangled, dark mess on her head. It wasn't much of an enjoyable process, but the presistant case of bedhead eventually subsided after a moment of painful grooming. Hanabi took a gander at her reflection, and made a quick face in the mirror before exiting the bathroom. Just because she never acted like a rebellious teenager didn't mean she couldn't look like one.

Though, as she noticed the two strips of fabric hanging from the front of her pants and clipping to the waistband at the back again, such an ensemble wouldn't be so convenient should the need to defend herself arise. She highly doubted such concerns were necessary, however. With at least two of the "team" most likely still unconscious, there would be no voluntary fighting. All there was left to do was to explore and to wait for a nice, detailed explanation as to the current situation. She resolved to kill two birds with one stone and do both at once, as she pulled the door aside and walked out.

oooooooooooooooooooo

"I can't believe he got me to do this," Kiba muttered under his breath, kicking at a small stone in his path. Akamaru trotted alongside him jauntily, tail wagging. He yipped, looking up at his master and friend, before noticing one of the many insects flitting in and out of the trees on both sides of the forest road and jumping up to try and catch it. And the man felt a momentary pang, recalling similar memories.

He looked ahead, seeing nothing but the same leafy green sprinkled with patches of sunlight filtering through the tall branches. He had seen and walked through many forests in his life, living in the village hidden in leaves, but this one seemed different to him. The trees were tall, but much thinner than the mountainous things sprouting out of the ground near Konoha. There was a fresh scent to the place, not one of wood and pine like in the heavy and overbearing atmosphere enshrouding his home city, and there was almost something floral about the air. And while the leaves in the surrounding regions would be losing their colour and falling to the ground, everything in this place looked to be in full bloom. The woods felt new, young.

His thoughts had eventually carried him a distance down the path, and he could begin to see what had sent him traces of that sweet smell he'd detected earlier. A ways ahead, there was a sharp dip in the road, and what looked to be large boulders lay scattered about the shallow crater. Through them, there were glimpses of every flower and herb imaginable, their numerous hues illuminated by the morning sun. There were pastel pinks, whites, yellows and purples, and bright violets, fuishas, oranges, reds and indigos. And for every different colour, there was a different scent; some spicy, some fragrant, and some just downright horrid.

All these different sensations came at him like an explosion, and he had to pause to try and sort through all the smells being forced at him. They eventually all condensed into one big, flowery mass, and his nose couldn't take it anymore. And yet, sneezing repeatedly, he continued to move forwards towards the small field; he definitely wasn't looking forward to digging through all that just to find one stinkin' herb, but if he went back to the village empty-handed and without an excuse, he was baked.

Akamaru rushed towards the flowers, excited at the sheer number of new scents. And Kiba supposed that if he had truly been in touch with his canine abilities, he would have been too. Alas, there were only so many similarities between dogs and humans. And unfortunately, liking flora wasn't one of them. Nevertheless, he followed the bounding pup towards his doom, cupping a hand over his poor nose. The mission: get in there fast, find a few of the dumb flowers, get the hell out.

However, it was almost pre-determined that it would be no such quick feat as he stepped through two of the rocks to get to the field, to discover that someone familiar sat crouched picking herbs on the other side. It took a moment for him to recognize the girl, but as she looked up at the sound of halting footsteps, the realization became mutual. A maple leaf fell from above and landed briefly on her checkered bandana, before sliding off as she stood, startled. There was a surprised silence.

"_You_!" they both exclaimed simultaneously. Another quick pause in dialogue was interrupted by a chain of sneezes from Kiba as he had unintentionally uncovered his sensitive nostrils, and then another from Namu.

"Those are contageous, you know," she interjected, casting him a dubious look as she sniffled quietly and placed her hands on her hips.

Alarmed, the man cast a look behind him. "What are?" Another sneeze.

"_Those_," she pointed out, rolling her eyes. "You know, 'a-choo'?"

Recovering his composure quickly, Kiba replied incredulously, "You could have just said 'sneezes'."

Namu raised her eyebrow. "I would have, if I had been sure you would have actually understood me."

"What makes you say that?"

Akamaru barked from beneath numerous bright blossoms, resuming his exploration not long afterwards. Kiba gave him a thoroughly confused look. "Wait, _what_? What do you mean, 'sleaze'?"

Namu's brow furrowed. "Are you still reacting to that morpheine?"

Finally catching on, Kiba accosted, "Ohhhhh, _I _get it. You think I'm still trippin' from when you drugged me earlier."

A shrug. "Well, yeah, since you're still talking to your dog and all." She paused for a moment. "Or is that normal in Konoha?"

"Kind of. Well, no, not really," Kiba tried to explain. "Communicating with dogs is something only those with Inuzuka blood can do, and I just happen to have myself quite a bit."

"Oh, I see," Namu conceded, nodding. She began to grin, and said, "You know, that's pretty cool." Glancing at the traces of bandage visible under Kiba's hoodie, she added, "It's a good thing I patched you up, or you wouldn't have any of that fancy blood left at all."

Considering what Akamaru had added to the conversation not too long ago, he asked, "What _did _happen earlier, anyways?"

"I'm not surprised you don't remember," came a muttered reply, but then the speaker elaborated further. "It went something like this: you showed up all sliced up at four-thirty in the morning, and I got called over because everyone else was asleep, the lucky jerks. Anyways, I had to give you stitches, and lots, which _would _have really hurt had I not given you some morpheine to dull the pain out of the very kindness of my heart. A little too much though, I think, because you got all weird and started hitting on me, _really _badly, might I add, like on the level of "hey baby, what's your sign". So, you ended up asking my name, and I eventually just caved and told you to get you to shut up, and--"

"What was it again?" Kiba asked, a blank look on his face.

Namu blinked, sporting an equally vacant expression. "Pardon?"

"Your name."

"Oh. Namu."

"Kiba," he answered in return, and let her continue.

The young lady cleared her throat. "Anywho, then you started talking to your dog there, and I got really weirded out and started thinking stuff like 'hey, is this guy batshit insane, or what?'. And you kept moving around and trying to cop a feel and just making things harder for me in general, so I eventually had to judo chop you and finish up while you were unconscious. Moved you to a room, yadda yadda yadda... And that's pretty much it."

After she was done, Kiba couldn't help but grimace. "Seriously?" he asked.

Namu bobbed her head yes. "Yep. But by the end, I think you were just delirious from blood loss. I'd hate to see you drunk, though," she added with a smirk.

Come to think of it, Kiba _had _heard particularly degrading stories about himself under the influence. But suddenly struck with a completely unrelated thought, he couldn't help but voice it.

"For a clinic, that place is pretty damn big."

The woman opposite him snorted softly. "I'd have to agree with you there. Between you and me, the only reason it's a clinic and not a hospital is because we have such out-dated equipment. And we mostly stick to using herbs and old medicine recipies, anyways." She motioned to the field around her. "That's why I'm here now, actually."

Kiba nodded in response, and then suddenly remembered his reason for being out of bed so early. "Oh, yeah!" he exclaimed, sneezing again afterwards. The sound was echoed from in front of him. "I'm looking for this herb. I think it was called... Ah..." He spent a moment trying to recall the plant he'd been told to find, and yet could only think of a colour, for some unintelligable reason. "... Yellow, I think."

Namu giggled quietly. "I'm pretty sure you mean 'yarrow'," she corrected, kneeling to retrieve some of the herbs she had dropped earlier. A small, white dog trotted by her hand, however, holding in his mouth a few small clusters of pale pink flowers by their thin stems.

At this, she looked up, mildly startled. "The doggie knows what's up," she said.

Kiba looked equally surprised. "How'd you know what it looked like, Akamaru?"

A muffled bark was the reply, and he seemed to dismiss the matter at that. "What did he say?" Namu asked.

"Hn, said something about recognizing the smell from the clinic. Not sure how he could pick it out with all these flowers, though. I know _I_ couldn't, even though I should be able to."

"You have a nose like a dog, too? Must get pretty confusing after a while."

"Nah, not really. I'm just not used to this many different scents at once. There must be thousands of different kinds of plants here. How did you find this place, anyways?"

"Not found, so much as created. My dad and I came here from the Water Country a while ago, and we both helped plant this forest. Everything was rocky and barren at first, because the village is so close to a mountain, but everybody from town pitched in. And now we have quite the charming little forest, if I do say so myself."

"So you grew this place? Whoa. But what about your mom?"

There was a silence, and Kiba thought for a moment that he had asked too much. He was relieved, however, when the answer came shortly.

"She's still back home. Me and dad left because of a small war that had broken out, and she insisted on staying behind and fighting for the cause. We got a letter a while ago, and everything's a-okay. Not sure when she's coming over here, though." A small sigh. "But enough about me. Where did Akamaru get his name, anyways?" Namu asked, noting the pale colour of the pup's fur.

Kiba squirmed for a moment, but before he realized it, he had already begun talking. "He got his name from his dad, because he looks so much like him. The old Akamaru would turn red if you gave him a soldier pill, but I'm not so sure about this guy. His father got really big after a few years, but this Akamaru isn't supposed to grow much more. He's probably just not suited to fight."

"What happened to the old Akamaru?" Namu asked, beginning to sound remorseful before she had even heard the answer.

Kiba didn't flinch before continuing, scratching his friend absent-mindedly behind the ear. "Died about a year ago on a mission. I wasn't paying attention, and he got hit with a poisonous dart of some kind. Barely made it until we got home again." Noting the sorrowful look he was recieving, he added, "Don't worry about it."

After a moment of awkward silence, he was surprised to find the corners of his mouth turning up a slight bit. "It's weird," he contemplated aloud. "I feel a little better about it, now that it's out in the open. I have't told anybody, until now."

"Funny how that works," Namu mused, beginning to smile to herself. She stood again, handing Kiba some of the yarrow she had collected as he got to his feet as well.

"You coming back too?" he asked, accepting the herbs.

A quick shake of the head answered his question. "No, I'm going to stay here a little longer."

"Alright. Thanks." He gave a short wave, stepping back on to the path again, Akamaru bouncing from paw to paw at his heels.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Sakura stared absently out the window opened beside her, wisps of the thin curtains brushing against her shoulder. She paid no heed to the thin, smooth material, instead pretending to focus on something beyond the tiny criss-crossed wires separating her and the outside world. The muscles in her forearms, which were wrapped around the legs bunched up against her chest, felt terribly sore and taught. And while the day was warm, the breeze filtering through the screen felt colder than it should have.

Laying any unintentional metaphors aside, she supposed what she was wearing had something to do with the goosebumps erupting on her skin. Her chilly arms were exposed for the world to see, with no clothing on her upper half save for her spaghetti-strap undershirt. Her other shirt had long since been ruined. So for the meantime, she would have to rely on the sun for warmth.

Even so, the sun couldn't handle everyone depending on it forever, could it?

_Don't go comparing yourself to the sun_, she scolded herself, letting her forehead drop to her knees. _The sun always shines, even when it's covered. It always comes back out after the rain, regardless of any storm clouds still in the sky. It's always been there and always will be, and everyone looks up at it. You can depend on the sun._

Despite many obvious differences, Sakura found herself thinking of a certain someone having passed through her mind numerous times in the hour or so she had been awake. A moment of pondering passed, however, and she quickly corrected herself.

_No. Sasuke doesn't want to be seen like that. He doesn't do well for the attention, and would probably be happier without it._

The same couldn't be said for the person slouched exhaustedly in his chair, feet propped on the edge of her bed, eyes closed and mouth wide open in slumber. She couldn't remember a time when Naruto had stationed himself there, and assumed as a result that he must have been awake when she had collapsed and accordingly moved to where he was sometime afterwards. To do that, he would have to have been conscious and well, for which she was thankful.

_People really don't give him enough credit_, she mused, shifting her position so her back was against the cold wooden headboard. And it was true; despite all his childhood efforts to be recognized, only after achieving jounin rank had she begun to hear his name mentioned proudly on the streets of Konoha. But she had noticed him training every day with the same reckless determination he put into his missions, for as long as she could remember.

She supposed there would always be those who did well without effort, and those who had to work for their entire lives to succeed. There were many such people she had known since before her teen years, but most of which she was still unfamiliar with. So which category was she under? Since childhood, she had been commended for her uncanny intelligence and photographic memory, both traits she seemed to have carried from birth. But she knew from recent events, despite the praise she sometimes recieved, that there was much she could improve on. Motivation. Efficiency. Willingness to follow orders, no matter what they entailed.

_Dependability_, Sakura realized. She had lead herself to believe, until earlier that morning, that she was one you could trust under any circumstances to do her part on a mission. But now it was all too apparent how affected she was by emotional crises, and that wasn't something she would be able to change. She didn't have the manpower to build walls around her heart, like Sasuke had, and only Naruto could save a situation by getting personally involved in it. And that only made her plight all the more frustrating. Even after all those years spent trying, she would still be the weakest on her team, though it had disassembled long ago.

On the other hand, there wasn't much she could do to change things. It was easy to train your body and make it tougher, but achieving mental strength wasn't something that could be accomplished just by working hard at it every day. And as dissatisfying as it was, she accepted this truth with open arms, leaving things at that and letting her head fall gently against the wall behind her. Resting was the best thing she could do, in her condition.

Though she supposed if there had been any serious reprecussions, she would have been feeling them. She had never experienced anything like that odd, trance-like dizziness she had felt before blacking out, but the factors at the time and the heaviness in her limbs at the moment only lead to one possibility. Having studied in the medical practice for a number of years under the best of Konoha, there were almost no sypmtoms she couldn't recognize, including her own, and she had been warned of the life-threatening consequences of excessive chakra use many times before. She expected to be severely scolded for taking such a risk. And while she firmly believed that what she had done was completely necessary, knowing that she was very lucky to still be alive sent chills down her spine.

Chakra is formed by concentrating both physical and mental energy into one place, and letting the two merge. It is normally excreted in raw form, to be molded appropriately for the technique it is to be used for once it has left the body. The same applies to healing techniques; the basic principal is to send it into someone else's body, and let it repair the damaged cells on its own. On occasions where the injuries are too large or grave for this to work, however, the chakra drags out the very physical or mental essence of a person (cells or neural functions, correspondingly), dependant of his or her willingness to allow this to happen. In small amounts, such a change in procedure proves beneficial, and strengthens the technique with minor side effects.

In a nutshell, this is the basis of the theory of what happens when one uses more chakra than they have. When a person completely devoid of energy tries to produce it, if they strain enough, they will start using their own cells and bodily fluids, most frequently blood, as substitutes. In most cases, instant death occurrs when the amount of substituted material excedes what a human can survive without. But in those who rely more on mental power to form chakra and instead use their brain's functions as makeshift chakra, the worst things that have ever occurred are mental breakdown and severe cases of catatonia. The side effects depend solely on one's ability to maintain a sense of self and control over their thoughts, and vary accordingly, but although nobody has ever died under such circumstances, those affected rarely recover and spend the rest of their lives not as humans, but as objects incapable of expressing thought or emotion.

Sakura had felt and seen the blood passing out of her body. Not only did this signify that if she had continued for a second longer, she wouldn't be alive to be contemplating it, but also that she didn't rely on her brain as much as she thought. Although never as physically fit as any of the other genin of her time, she had always considered herself to be one of the smartest of the bunch, a quality she had supposedly carried with her all this time; it was disappointing, in the least, to discover all at once just how useless she really was when it came to the things she had always been known for.

Sighing deeply, she realized she had forgotten that she was supposed to be trying to sleep and finally slid down under the sheets again. She pulled them up to the bridge of her nose and turned on to her side, bunching her bare arms up against her chest. At first, the feeling of the material against her cold skin was pleasantly warm, but after a number of minutes of lying there with her eyes closed, she felt her skin getting hot and sticky and flipped on to her back.

That too eventually became uncomfortable, and in the course of any hour, the young woman changed positions numerous other times until finally giving up and sitting up straight again. Who was she kidding? She hadn't been able to fall back alseep earlier, so what had made her think she would be able to now? There was simply too much to think about and wonder about and worry about.

The job she had done had been messy. Barely any of her remaining strength had been used on healing, and as a result she couldn't help but become more and more anxious. What if she had been too late? What if her last-ditch effort hadn't been enough, and now one of her earliest acquaintences lay dead because of her hesitation and insecurity? The thought eventually became too much to bear, and she swung her feet around to the side of the bed and let herself down.

She stood for a moment, and briefly considered what she would do before taking a step on the cold floor. She had absolutely no chakra left, but Sasuke's potentially critical position was her fault; even if it meant dying, she would clean up after herself. And that was all well and good, until a voice at her back startled her to a dead stop.

"Don't even think about it," Naruto said, straightening in his seat and looking pointedly at Sakura. When she simply stood with her back turned, he continued, more quietly, "You scared the shit out of everyone, earlier."

He was met with a bitter laugh as the kunoichi took the few short steps back to her bed and sat down heavily on it, gaze turned downwards. She let out a small sigh, before saying in a tired voice, "I guess I need to apologize. But I can't just do nothing, when--"

"Hey, don't worry about it," came the insistant interruption."You've been working really hard already. Sasuke is still alive, and so am I, thanks to you. The best thing you can do for anyone right now is get plenty of rest, and let me and the others handle things for a while."

Emerald eyes lightened up periodically, but then faltered. So in the end, there was nothing more she could do.

"Thanks, Naruto," Sakura said with some suppressed emotion she couldn't quite place. She knew for sure it wasn't sincerity. "You're sweet." At least she didn't have to fake that part.

While normally Naruto's expression would have brightened a hundred shades at such a compliment to be followed by a joke about whatever had been said about him, he could see he hadn't cheered the woman up any more. So instead he managed a weak smile, and commented, "Your hair looks really cute like that."

Sakura couldn't help but smile back at the sheer randomness of what he had said, and felt herself beginning to feel a tiny bit better.

There was a knock on the door, and without waiting for an answer Kakashi strode in, followed by Kiba and Hanabi.

"What's up?" Naruto asked, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands behind his head.

"I've come to explain things," the jounin answered, closing the door and recieving four earnest, mildly surprised looks in return. "I suggest you make yourselves comfortable."

(( I really need to stop with the cliffhangers.

Anywho, more on that story idea. It's one I'm particularly proud of, and you can go check it out over at Just search for Oversoul under authors, and it should be the only story under my name. So far I have the prologue and three chapters, all of which are no longer than a page on Word Pad. Hope you enjoy. ))


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